Abstract: | Synthesis of 4-(Benzylthio)-and 4-(Arylthio)-1,3-oxazole-5(2H)-ones Following a known procedure, 4-(benzylthio)-1,3-oxazol-5(2H)-one ( 4a ) was synthesized starting from sodium cyanodithioformate ( 1 ) and cyclohexanone (Scheme 1). The structure of the intermediate 4-(benzylthio)-1,3-thiazol-5(2H)-one ( 3a ) was established by X-ray crystallography. An alternative route was developed for the synthesis of 4-(arylthio)-1,3-oxazol-5(2H)-ones which are not accessible by the former reaction. Treatment of ethyl cyanoformate ( 5 ) with a thiophenol in the presence of catalytic amounts of Et2NH and TiCl4, followed by addition of a ketone and BF3.Et2O in a one-pot-reaction, gave 4f–i in low-to-fair yields (Scheme 3). Both synthetic pathways-complementary as for benzyl–S and aryl-S derivatives–seem to be limited with respect to variation of substituents of the ketone. |