Reaction of alpha-oxoketene-N,S-arylaminoacetals with Vilsmeier reagents: an efficient route to highly functionalized quinolines and their benzo/hetero-fused analogues.

A simple, highly efficient, and regioselective synthesis of functionalized quinolines through Vilsmeier cyclization of a variety of alpha-oxoketene-N,S-anilinoacetals has been reported. The cyclization is found to be facile with N,S-acetals bearing strongly activating groups on aniline, whereas yields of quinolines are moderate in other cases. The reaction could also be extended for the synthesis of substituted tricyclic benzo[h]quinoline, pyrido[2,3-h]quinoline, 4,7-diphenylphenanthroline, and tetracyclic quino[8,7-h]quinoline by performing a Vilsmeier reaction on N,S-acetals derived from 1-naphthylamine, m-phenylenediamine, o-phenylenediamine, and 1,5-diaminonaphthalene, respectively. A few of the newly synthesized quinolines are subjected to further transformation to afford 2-unsubstituted (Raney-Ni/Ethanol), quinoline-5,8-quinone (NBS/H(2)SO(4)), or 2-alkyl/aryl aminoquinolines through sequential m-CPBA oxidation to the corresponding (2-methylsulfonyl)quinoline followed by replacement with appropriate amines. Similarly, cycloannulation of a few 2-methylthio-3-benzoylquinolines with hydrazine hydrate under microwave irradiation afforded the corresponding substituted and fused pyrazolo[3,4-b]quinolines in excellent yields, whereas TBTH/AIBN-mediated cyclization of the corresponding 3-(2-bromobenzoyl)-2-methylthioquinolines yielded the corresponding benzothiopyrano-fused quinolines through radical translocation.