Synthesis of Functionalized Pyrimidines from Propargylic alcohols and their Derivatives: Two Decades of Developments

Pyrimidine is a six-membered diaza-heterocycle i.e., 1,3-diazine. It is found to be present in many biologically and pharmacologically active scaffolds like nucleotides, natural products, and drugs. The bioactivities of pyrimidine include anti-tubercular, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-malarial, anti-cancer, anti-neoplastic and many more. In this review article we summarized various synthetic approaches that involve the synthesis of these privileged building blocks by employing propargylic alcohols and their derivatives like propargylic esters and propargylic ynones as three carbon-components. Here, we have confined ourselves to the developments appeared during the period of 23 years i.e., 2000-2022.

Synthesis of Sulfonylated Heterocycles via Copper-Catalyzed Heteroaromatization/Sulfonyl Transfer of Propargylic Alcohols

An unprecedented copper-catalyzed heteroaromatization/sulfonyl transfer of propargylic alcohols with isocyanide has been developed. 3-Sulfonyl benzofurans and indoles were produced under Cu(I) catalysis in good to high yields. The developed catalytic methodology provides controlled, modular, and facile access to sulfonyl benzoheterocycle scaffolds.

Synthesis of Carbonates from Alcohols and CO2

Alcohols are ubiquitous compounds in nature that offer modular building blocks for synthetic chemistry. Here we discuss the most recent development of different classes of alcohols and their coupling chemistry with carbon dioxide as to afford linear and cyclic carbonates, the challenges associated with their formation, and the potential of this chemistry to revive a waste carbon feed stock.

HBF4-Catalysed Nucleophilic Substitutions of Propargylic Alcohols

The activity of HBF4 (aqueous solution) as a catalyst in propargylation reactions is presented. Diverse types of nucleophiles were employed in order to form new C-O, C-N and C-C bonds in technical acetone and in air. Good to excellent yields and good chemoselectivities were obtained using low acid loading (typically 1 mol-%) under simple reaction conditions.