From Ketones, Amines, and Carbon Monoxide to 4-Quinolones: Palladium-Catalyzed Oxidative Carbonylation

One-Step Synthesis of 2-Arylquinolin-4(1H)-Ones from 1-(2-Aminoaryl)-3-Arylpropan-1-Ones via Pd(II)-Catalyzed Dehydrogenative Cyclization

In this study, we developed palladium-catalyzed dehydrogenative cyclization to transform 1-(2-aminoaryl)-3-arylpropan-1-ones into 2-arylquinolin-4(1H)-ones, also known as aza-flavones which are the bioisosteres of flavones, in an atom-economic manner. This method exhibited excellent chemical compatibility with a broad substrate scope, accommodating up to 25 derivatives. Additionally, kinetic studies were performed to elucidate the reaction mechanism. Further, 2-phenylquinolin-4(1H)-one was used as a common intermediate for synthesizing privileged structures such as 4-methoxyquinoline, N-methylquinoline-4(1H)-one, and 4-(pseudo)halogenated quinoline moieties.

Ring expansion of 3-hydroxyoxindoles to 4-quinolones via palladium-catalyzed C-C(acyl) bond cleavage

We report herein the construction of 4-quinolones via palladium-catalyzed regioselective β-acyl elimination of 3-hydroxyoxindoles and a subsequent Camps cyclization process. This protocol is highly efficient and various 4-quinolone derivatives are obtained in high yields. The construction of the core skeleton of the 4-quinolone antibiotics demonstrated the synthetic utility of this method.

Enhanced Selectivity in 4-Quinolone Formation: A Dual-Base System for Palladium-Catalyzed Carbonylative Cyclization with Fe(CO)5

The use of gaseous CO in Pd-catalyzed carbonylative quinolone synthesis presents challenges related to safety and precise pressure control. In response, a streamlined non-gaseous synthesis of 4-quinolone compounds has been developed. This study introduces a tunable CO-releasing system utilizing Fe(CO)5 activated by a dual-base system of piperazine and triethylamine. This alternative liquid CO resource facilitates the palladium-catalyzed carbonylative C-C coupling and subsequent intramolecular cyclization. By tuning the tandem kinetics of carbonylation and cyclization, this non-gaseous method achieves the successful synthesis of 22 distinct 4-quinolones with excellent yields. This is achieved through the three-component condensation of sub-stoichiometric amounts of Fe(CO)5 with 2-iodoaniline and terminal alkynes. Operando mechanistic studies have revealed a novel CO transfer mechanism that facilitates homogeneous carbonylative cyclization, distinguishing this method from traditional techniques. In addition to addressing safety concerns, this approach also provides precise control over selectivity, with significant implications for pharmaceutical research and the efficient synthesis of pharmaceutical and bioactive compounds.

Cu-Catalyzed Tandem C-N and C-C Bond Formation Leading to 4(1H)-Quinolones: A Scaffold with Diverse Biological Properties from Totally New Raw Materials in a Single Step

A novel Cu-catalyzed tandem C-N and C-C bond-formation reaction has been developed to furnish 2-substituted-4-(1H)-quinolones. 4-(1H)-quinolones play an important role in medicinal chemistry. Many 2-aryl(alkyl)-4(1H)-quinolones are found to exhibit diverse biological properties. While traditional methods have inherent issues [like starting materials with incompatible functional groups (NH2 and keto groups)], many modern methods either require activated starting materials (like Ynones) or employ expensive metals (Pd, Rh, Au, etc.) involving carbonylation using CO or metal complexes. Our protocol presents an environmentally friendly one-step method for the construction of these useful 2-substituted-4-(1H)-quinolones from easily available aryl boronic acid (or pinacolate ester) and nitriles as new raw materials, using a cheap Cu-catalyst and O2 (air) as a green oxidant. We further extended its application to the synthesis of various natural products, including the first formal total synthesis of punarnavine. A plausible mechanism involving an aryl nitrilium ion (formed due to the intermolecular C-N bond-forming coupling between aryl boron species and the nitrile group) followed by tandem intramolecular C-C bond formation has been proposed.

Synthesis of 3-Functionalized 4-Quinolones from Readily Available Anthranilic Acids

We report herein an efficient synthesis of 3-functionalized 4-quinolones, a class of privileged pharmacophores found in numerous biologically and pharmaceutically active compounds. Our synthetic strategy features a telescoped two-step sequence starting from readily available anthranilic acids and functionalized methane derivatives bearing an electron-withdrawing group, such as methyl sulfones, methyl ketones, and acetonitrile. The method delivers good to excellent yields for a variety of structurally diverse substrates, showing good functional group tolerability. We believe that the disclosed method offers a highly efficient and practical entry to functionalized 4-quinolones under mild conditions that is amenable to preparative-scale synthesis.

Recent advances in the synthesis of pharmaceutically active 4-quinolone and its analogues: a review

4-Quinolone and its analogs are heterocyclic classes of organic compounds displaying biologically active and a broad spectrum of pharmaceutical drug scaffolds. 4-Quinolone is the first-line chemotherapeutic treatment for a wide spectrum of bacterial infections. Recently, 4-quinolone and its derivatives have been shown to have the potential to cure and regulate various acute and chronic diseases, including pain, ischemia, immunomodulation, inflammation, malarial, bacterial infection, fungal infection, HIV, and cancer, based on several reports. This review highlights and provides brief information to better understand the development of experimental progress made to date in the synthetic protocol towards 4-quinolone and its analogs. Thus, classical synthesis protocol, metal-free reaction protocol, and transition metal-catalyzed reaction procedures are briefly discussed along with the pharmaceutical activities of selected 4-quinolone derivatives.

15.4.5 Quinolinones and Related Systems (Update 2022)

Quinolinones, of which the quinolin-4(1H)-one ring system can be highlighted, represent an exciting class of nitrogen heterocycles. The quinolinone motif can be found in many natural compounds and approved drugs for several diseases. This chapter is a comprehensive survey of the methods for the synthesis of quinolin-2(1H)-ones, quinolin-4(1H)-ones, and their thio- and amino derivatives, and is an update to the previous Science of Synthesis chapter (Section 15.4), covering the period between 2003 and 2020.

Assembly of Furazan-Fused Quinolines via an Expeditious Metal-Free [2+2+1] Radical Tandem Cyclization Process

A [2+2+1]-NO-segment-incorporating heteroannulative cascade is described. This versatile method, particularly using modular cyanoarylated ketimine substrates, allows efficient access to structurally diversified quinolines embedded with an oxadiazole core. This metal-free protocol proceeds smoothly at 30 °C, offers easy manipulation of substituents on the quinoline moiety, and tolerates a spectrum of functional groups. Density functional theory calculation revealed that the cyano moiety is crucial to facilitate the early cyclization step in this heteroannulation process and is different from the previously established late cyclization mechanistic interpretation.

Alkynoates as Versatile and Powerful Chemical Tools for the Rapid Assembly of Diverse Heterocycles under Transition-Metal Catalysis: Recent Developments and Challenges

Heterocycles, heteroaromatics and spirocyclic entities are ubiquitous components of a wide plethora of synthetic drugs, biologically active natural products, marketed pharmaceuticals and agrochemical targets. Recognizing their high proportion in drugs and rich pharmacological potential, these invaluable structural motifs have garnered significant interest, thus enabling the development of efficient catalytic methodologies providing access to architecturally complex and diverse molecules with high atom-economy and low cost. These chemical processes not only allow the formation of diverse heterocycles but also utilize a range of flexible and easily accessible building units in a single operation to discover diversity-oriented synthetic approaches. Alkynoates are significantly important, diverse and powerful building blocks in organic chemistry due to their unique and inherent properties such as the electronic bias on carbon-carbon triple bonds posed by electron-withdrawing groups or the metallic coordination site provided by carbonyl groups. The present review highlights the comprehensive picture of the utility of alkynoates (2007-2019) for the synthesis of various heterocycles (> 50 types) using transition-metal catalysts (Ru, Rh, Pd, Ir, Ag, Au, Pt, Cu, Mn, Fe) in various forms. The valuable function of versatile alkynoates (bearing multifunctional groups) as simple and useful starting materials is explored, thus cyclizing with an array of coupling partners to deliver a broad range of oxygen-, nitrogen-, sulfur-containing heterocycles alongside fused-, and spiro-heterocyclic compounds. In addition, these examples will also focus the scope and reaction limitations, as well as mechanistic investigations into the synthesis of these heterocycles. The biological significance will also be discussed, citing relevant examples of drug molecules highlighting each class of heterocycles. This review summarizes the recent developments in the synthetic methods for the synthesis of various heterocycles using alkynoates as readily available starting materials under transition-metal catalysis.

Access to 2-Alkyl/Aryl-4-(1H)-Quinolones via Orthogonal "NH3" Insertion into o-Haloaryl Ynones: Total Synthesis of Bioactive Pseudanes, Graveoline, Graveolinine, and Waltherione F

An efficient one-pot synthesis of 4-(1H)-quinolones through an orthogonal engagement of diverse o-haloaryl ynones with ammonia in the presence of Cu(I), involving tandem Michael addition and ArCsp₂-N coupling, is presented. The substrate scope of this convenient protocol, wherein ammonium carbonate acts as both an in situ ammonia source and a base toward diverse 2-substituted 4-(1H)-quinolones, has been mapped and its efficacy validated through concise total synthesis of bioactive natural products pseudanes (IV, VII, VIII, and XII), graveoline, graveolinine, and waltherione F.

Palladium-catalysed Heck-type alkenylation reactions in the synthesis of quinolines. Mechanistic insights and recent applications

Recent developments in Pd(0)- and Pd(ii)-catalysed alkenylation reactions for the synthesis of quinolines focusing on mechanistic understanding.

Cu-Catalyzed one-pot synthesis of thiochromeno-quinolinone and thiochromeno-thioflavone via oxidative double hetero Michael addition using in situ generated nucleophiles

A copper catalyzed three-component synthesis of π-conjugated tetracyclic thiochromeno-quinolinone and thiochromeno-thioflavone was established via oxidative double hetero Michael addition using in situ generated nucleophiles.

Electroreductive Intermolecular Coupling of 4-Quinolones with Benzophenones: Synthesis of 2-Substituted 4-Quinolones

The electroreductive coupling of 1-alkoxycarbonyl-4-quinolones with benzophenones in the presence of trimethylsilyl chloride gave adducts reacted at the 2-position of 4-quinolones as trimethylsilyl ethers. The adducts were transformed to 2-(diarylhydroxymethyl)-4-quinolones. The electroreduction of 1,3-diethoxycarbonyl-4-quinolones and polyhalogenated 3-alkoxycarbonyl-1-alkyl-4-quinolones with benzophenones also gave adducts reacted at the 2-position of 4-quinolones. On the contrary, the electroreductive coupling of 1,3-diethooxycarbonyl-8-methoxy-4-quinolones occurred at the 4-position of 4-quinolones to give 4-substituted quinolines.

Recent advances in the synthetic and medicinal perspective of quinolones: A review

In the modern scenario, the quinolone scaffold has emerged as a very potent motif considering its clinical significance. Quinolones possess wide range of pharmacological activities such as anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal, antiprotozoal, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, carbonic anhydrase inhibitory and diuretic activity etc. The versatile synthetic approaches have been successfully applied and several of the resulted synthesized compounds exhibit fascinating biological activities in numerous fields. This has prompted to discover quinolone-based analogues among the researchers due to its great diversity in biological activities. In the past few years, various new, efficient and convenient synthetic approaches (including green chemistry and microwave-assisted synthesis) have been designed and developed to synthesize diverse quinolone-based scaffolds which represent a growing area of interest in academic and industry as well as to explore their biological activities. In this review, an attempt has been made by the authors to summarize (1) One of the most comprehensive listings of quinolone-based drugs or agents in the market or under various stages of clinical development; (2) Recent advances in the synthetic strategies for quinolone derivatives as well as their biological implications including insight of mechanistic studies. (3) Further, the biological data is correlated with structure-activity relationship studies to provide an insight into the rational design of more active agents.

Palladium-Catalysed Synthesis and Transformation of Quinolones

Palladium-catalysed reactions have had a large impact on synthetic organic chemistry and have found many applications in target-oriented synthesis. Their widespread use in organic synthesis is due to the mild conditions associated with the reactions together with their tolerance of a wide range of functional groups. Moreover, these types of reactions allow the rapid construction of complex molecules through multiple bond-forming reactions in a single step, the so-called tandem processes. Pd-catalysed reactions have been applied to the synthesis of a large number of natural products and bioactive compounds, some of them of complex molecular structures. This review article aims to present an overview of the most important Pd-catalysed reactions employed in the synthesis and transformations of quinolin-2(1H)-ones and quinolin-4(1H)-ones. These compounds are widely recognized by their diverse bioactivity, being privileged structures in medicinal chemistry and useful structural moieties for the development of new drug candidates. Furthermore, they hold significant interest due to their host⁻guest chemistry; applications in chemical, biochemical and environmental analyses and use in the development of new synthetic methods. In some cases, the quinolone formation step cannot be ascribed to a claimed Pd-catalysed reaction but this reaction is crucial to get the appropriate substrate for cyclization into the quinolone. Herein we present and discuss different economical, efficient and selective synthetic strategies to access quinolone-type compounds.

Theoretical investigation on the mechanism of Cu(ii)-catalyzed synthesis of 4-quinolones: effects of additives HOTf vs. HOTs

Hydrogen-bond donor/proton-donor ability is revealed to be the primary factor that controls the catalytic capability of additives (HOTf vs. HOTs).

Application of vinylogous carbamates and vinylogous aminonitriles to the regiospecific synthesis of uniquely functionalized pyrroles and quinolones

Pyrroles and quinolones represent core structures, which are routinely found in both natural and synthetic bioactive substances. Consequently, the development of efficient and regiospecific methods for the preparation of such heterocycles with unique functionality is of some importance. We describe herein the regiospecific synthesis of 1,2,3,4-tetrasubstituted pyrroles containing polar substituents and such products are prepared from vinylogous carbamates and vinylogous aminonitriles. We also describe the regiospecific synthesis of 3-aryl containing 1,3,6trisubstituted quinolones from vinylogous carbamates. The use of an amine exchange reaction to prepare precursors for the pyrrole and quinolone forming cyclizations represents a key factor in the strategy.

Preparation of Ketimines from Aryldiazonium Salts, Arenes, and Nitriles via Intermolecular Arylation of N-Arylnitrilium Ions

A transition-metal-free approach for the preparation of N-arylketimines has been developed from the direct reaction of aryldiazonium salts, arenes, and nitriles in a one-pot fashion with the consecutive formation of N-C and C-C bonds. This approach proceeds via an in situ generation of N-arylnitrilium intermediate, which then undergoes intermolecular arylation. This three-component strategy offers a step- and atom-efficient way to N-arylketimines from easily accessible reagents under mild reaction conditions. The characterization of stereochemistry of ketimine was achieved by X-ray crystallographic structure and theoretical calculation. Operational simplicity, shorter reaction time, excellent functional group compatibility, and scalability are the key features of this report.