Oxazoline chemistry part III.: Synthesis and characterisation of [2-(2′-anilinyl)-2-oxazolines] and some related compounds

The syntheses and characterisation of a series of chiral and achiral 2-(aminophenyl)-2-oxazolines and some related compounds is reported. All of the derivatives have been produced by a one-step procedure involving the treatment of isatoic anhydride (i.e. [2H]-3,1-benzoxazine-[1H]-2,4-dione: 1) or its 5-chloro analogue with a slight excess of appropriate amino-alcohols. In most cases, anhydrous ZnCl2 is shown to be an effective Lewis acid catalyst for this reaction at reflux temperature in high boiling aromatic solvents (PhCl or PhMe). Oxazolines have been readily formed using rac-2-amino-1-butanol, (S)-phenylglycinol, 2-methyl-2-amino-1-propanol and (1S,2R) or (1R,2S)-cis-1-amino-2-indanol; yields range from 85% to 22%. The use of aminoalcohols such as 2-ethanolamine, (+/-)-2-amino-1-phenyl-1-propanol or 3-amino-1-propanol (to give the corresponding 4,5-dihydro-1,3-oxazine) results in poor yields. The use of other Lewis acid catalysts (silicic acid, Cd(acac)(2).2H(2)O, CuCl2.2H(2)O, InCl3) or higher temperatures did not improve the yields with these latter two substrates. Benzoxazoles and N-substituted benzoxazoles can also be obtained in reasonable yields from 1 using 2-aminophenol (36%) or 2-amino-3-hydroxypyridine (45%).