Synthesis of 6-cyanopurines and the isolation and X-ray structure of novel 2H-pyrroles

(Z)-N¹-(2-Amino-1,2-dicyanovinyl)-N²-substituted-formainidines react with dimethylformamide diethyl acetal at room temperature to give 6-cyanopurines as the major product together with novel 5-amino-2-arylimino-3,4-di[(N,N-dimethylamino)methylideneamino]-2H-pyrroles, which have been fully characterised and a single crystal X-ray analysis has been carried out on the N-phenyl derivative.