Synthesis and structure of novel 1,2-dihydro-phthalazine containing betaines

1,2-Dihydro-2-(4,5-dihydroimidazol-2yl)phthalazin-1-ol 1 reacts exothermically with dialkyl acetylenedicarboxylates to give 3-2-(4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazol-3-iurn-2-yl)-1,2-dihydro-1-phthalazin]-1,4-dialkoxy-1,4-dioxo-2-buten-2-olates 7 and 8 . Enolic ester compounds underwent further transesterification reactions with formation of the betaines 9 and 10 . The unequivocal structural assignement of these compounds was achieved by spectroscopic ¹H and ¹³C nmr methods as well as X-ray analysis of 7 .