An efficient method to synthesize 1,3,5-trisubstituted pyrazoles was developed. The reaction of 1,3-dialkynes with alkylhydrazines smoothly proceeded in dimethyl sulfoxide under suitable heating conditions to produce 1,3,5-trisubstituted pyrazoles in satisfactory to excellent yields. 1,3,5-Trisubstituted pyrazoles are important building blocks in the pharmaceutical industry because of their anticancer, 1 antibacterial, 2 analgesic, 3 and anti-inflammatory activities. 4 For example, 1,3,5-trisubstituted pyrazoles constitute the core structures of commercial drugs, such as Acomplia, Viagra, and Celebrex. Two methods have been developed for the synthesis of 1,3,5-trisubstituted pyrazoles over the past years. The first method involves the reaction of substituted hydrazines with a three-carbon-atom component (such as 1,3-dicarbonyl compound, α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compound) (Scheme 1, equation 1). 5 The second method involves the [3+2] cycloaddition of alkenes/alkynes with 1,3-dipoles (Scheme 1, equation 2). 6 The transition metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions for the synthesis of 1,3,5-trisubstituted pyrazoles have also been reported. 7 However, these methods have several drawbacks, such as harsh reaction conditions, multistep reactions, and the use of transition-metal catalysts and special starting materials, or poor selectivity.The intermolecular Cope-type hydroamination reaction of 1,3-dialkynes with hydrazine to produce 3,5-disubstituted pyrazoles have been reported by our group recently. 8 This reaction proceeded smoothly in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) in the absence of strong acid, strong base, and transition metal. From mechanistic analysis of this reaction, we anticipated that the intermolecular Cope-type hydroamination reaction of 1,3-dialkynes with alkylhydrazines (NH 2 NHR) might also occur to produce 1,3,5-disubstituted pyrazoles. As expected, the desired 1,3,5-disubstituted pyrazoles were obtained at a relatively high temperature (Scheme 1, equation 3). The results are reported in the current work.
Scheme 1 Synthesis of 1,3,5-trisubstituted pyrazolesThe reaction of 1,4-diphenylbuta-1,3-diyne (1a) with methylhydrazine sulfate was initially selected as a model to optimize the reaction conditions. The results are summarized in Table 1. The reaction of 1a with methylhydrazine sulfate was performed under the same reaction conditions as for the reaction of 1a with hydrazine (in DMSO at 60°C for 20 h). 8 The desired product, 5-benzyl-1-methyl-3-phenyl-1H-pyrazole (2a), was obtained in only 6% yield (entry 1). Subsequent analysis of the reaction temperature indicated that 110°C was the most suitable temperature to produce 2a in 65% yield (entry 6). An excess of methylhydrazine sulfate was tested to improve the yield of 2a. The results showed that 4 equivalents of methylhydrazine sulfate is necessary to afford product 2a in a higher yield (73%; Table 1, entry 8 vs entries 6 and 9). The bases, which included Et 2 NH, i-Pr 2 NEt, Bu 3 N, K 2 CO 3 , K 3 PO 4 , and NaOAc (entries 10-17) were then screened. Among...