Solid-phase synthesis of 5-isoxazol-4-yl-[1,2,4]oxadiazoles

A library of isoxazole and 1,2,4-oxadiazole-containing diheterocyclic compounds has been prepared. Our strategy was explored in solution phase first as follows. PMB-protected 3-butyn-2-ol was deprotonated with nBuLi, acylated with methyl chloroformate, and then employed in a nitrile oxide 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition (benzaldehyde oxime in the presence of bleach) to afford the isoxazole-substituted carboxylic acid methyl ester. Ester saponification with aqueous NaOH followed by a two-step condensation with benzamidoxime gave the final isoxazole-oxadiazole diheterocyclic product in good yield. With some modifications, we next explored this chemistry on Wang resin, which led to 18 final products that were cleaved from polymer beads with 50% TFA in dichloromethane.