Mechanistic observations in the gewald syntheses of 2-aminothiophenes

The Gewald syntheses were employed to prepare a series of 2-amino-3-carboethoxythiophenes, and the syntheses of two of these, namely, the 3,4-trimethylene ( 1f ) and 3,4-tetramethylene ( 1g ) derivatives, were examined in detail. In two preparations of 1f , octahydro-6a-(4-morpholinyl)-2-thioxocyclopenta[b]pyrrole-3-carboxylic acid ( 7 ) was a co-product. The structure of 7 was ascertained from its 300 MHz ¹H nmr and ¹³C nmr spectra, and by its conversion to 1,4,5,6-tetrahydro-2-mercaptocyclopenta[b]pyrrole-3-carboxylic acid ethyl ester ( 8 ). Isolation of 7 and other observations led to postulated mechanisms for three of the Gewald thiophene syntheses.