Published information on methods for the synthesis of haloimidazoles is summarized and classified.Haloimidazoles form an important group of compounds used as synthons for the production of various derivatives of imidazole and condensed heterocyclic systems based on imidazole, including those with a nodal nitrogen atom. Some derivatives of haloimidazoles have high biological activity and have found use as drugs for the treatment of hypertonia [1] and also as chemical agents for the protection of plants [2].Papers on the synthesis of haloimidazoles, mostly published before the middle of the twentieth century, are found in the monograph [3] and in the reviews [4][5][6]. However, the most important researches on the development of methods for the production of these compounds were executed in the last 55-60 years. This review is devoted to discussion of these methods.
SYNTHESIS OF FLUOROIMIDAZOLESAs will be described below, the direct halogenation of imidazoles by the respective halogens or halogenreleasing reagents (sodium hypochlorite, N-halosuccinimides, PCl 5 , etc.) used for the production of bromo-, iodo-, and chloroimidazoles is not used for the synthesis of fluoroimidazoles.The chief method for the synthesis of these compounds is the photochemical cleavage of imidazolediazonium fluoroborates.The method was first proposed for the transformation of aromatic amines 1 into the fluoroarenes 3 through the diazonium salts 2 [7,8]. Here it was established that salts of type 2 are more stable compounds than salts of the ArN 2 + X − type, where X is a halogen.