Synthesis of NSC-341,964: An unexpected study on the stability of 2-aryl-4H-3,1-benzoxazin-4-ones

Resynthesis of NSC 341,964, which had been assigned structure 1 (1-[[3-(7-chloro-4-oxo-4H-3,1-benzoxazin-2-yl)phenyl]methyl]pyridinium chloride) was approached via 7-chloro-2-(3-methylphenyl)-4H-3,1-benzoxazin-4-one ( 5 ) obtained from 3-methylbenzoyl chloride ( 2 ) and 2-amino-4-chlorobenzoic acid ( 3 ) followed by dehydration in acetic anhydride. Radical bromination provided 6 which with pyridine afforded the bromide analog 7 of 1 . Ion exchange, however, gave ring-opened benzoic acid 8 rather than 1 . The original sample of NSC 341,964 also proved to be ring-opened material. However, 7 upon standing exhibited slow hydrolysis to 8 so that the structure of the original NSC 341,964 remains uncertain. A more direct route to compound 8 is also described.