Dedicated to Professor Thomas Kappe on the occasion of his 70th birthday3 -H y d r o x y -2 -[ 1 -( a r y l h y d r a z o n o ) e t h y l ] -1H-phenalen-1-ones 3, obtained from 2-acetyl-3-hydroxy-1H-phenalen-1-one (1) and arylhydrazines 2, cyclize under acidic conditions to 8-methyl-10-aryl-10H-naphtho-[1,8a,8-fg]indazol-7-ones 4. Indazoles 4 are also obtained from 2-acetyl-3-hydroxy-1H-phenalen-1-one (1) and arylhydrazines 2 in a one-pot reaction. 2-Acetyl-3-azido-1H-phenalen-1-one (6) does not give 8-methyl-9-arylamino-9H-naphtho [1,8a,8-fg]indazol-7-ones via azide decomposition but gives again by nucleophilic replacement of the azide moiety in 6 the indazole 4. J. Heterocyclic Chem., 40, 753(2003).Indazole derivatives are of great interest because of their pharmaceutical activity, use in agrochemistry, in dye chemistry and in photographic processes [2]. Whereas the basic ring system of indazole is investigated thoroughly, polyfused derivatives are rarely described. In the course of our investigations of ring closure reactions of phenalene derivatives [3-5] we focused our interest on the synthesis of indazoles of type A (typus of a 1H-indazole) and of type B (typus of a 2H-indazole). In the literature, only one example of such an indazole of type A is described as a follow-up product in the ring enlargement of acenaphthenequinone [6].
Scheme 1We started our synthesis program with a 2-acyl-1-hydrazinoarene synthon, which should give in the cyclization step the formation of one new N-C bond. As the first step in this reaction the hydrazinolysis of 2-acetyl-3-hydroxy-1H-phenalen-1-one (1) was planned. 2-Acetyl-3-hydroxy-1H-phenalen-1-one (1) was obtained in a 2-step reaction from phenalene-1,3-dione by cyclocondensation with diethyl malonate, followed by a ring-opening reaction in sodium hydroxide solution and subsequent spontaneous decarboxylation upon acidification as described recently [5]. Attempts to obtain 2-acetyl-3-hydroxy-1H-phenalen-1-one (1) in a one step reaction by direct acetylation of phenalene-1,3-dione using acetic acid with acid catalysts as described in several heterocyclic systems [7] was not successful.The reaction of 2-acetyl-3-hydroxy-1H-phenalen-1-one (1) with arylhydrazines 2 was performed either in dimethylformamide without catalyst in the case of phenylhydrazine (2a) or with glacial acetic acid and sulfuric acid as catalyst in the case of 4-nitrophenylhydrazine (2b). In both cases 3-hydroxy-2-[1-(arylhydrazono)ethyl]-1H-phenalen-1-ones 3 were obtained in 48 and 97% yield, respectively.Because of the high reactivity of 3a, in all experiments, traces of the follow-up ring closed compound 4 a w e r e