Synthesis of Novel N-Acylhydrazones and Their C-N/N-N Bond Conformational Characterization by NMR Spectroscopy

In this article, a synthesis of N’-(benzylidene)-2-(6-methyl-1H-pyrazolo3,4-b]quinolin-1-yl)acetohydrazides and their structural interpretation by NMR experiments is described in an attempt to explain the duplication of some peaks in their ¹H- and ¹³C-NMR spectra. Twenty new 6-methyl-1H-pyrazolo3,4-b]quinoline substituted N-acylhydrazones 6(a–t) were synthesized from 2-chloro-6-methylquinoline-3-carbaldehyde (1) in four steps. 2-Chloro-6-methylquinoline-3-carbaldehyde (1) afforded 6-methyl-1H-pyrazolo3,4-b]quinoline (2), which upon N-alkylation yielded 2-(6-methyl-1H-pyrazolo3,4-b]quinolin-1-yl)acetate (3). The hydrazinolysis of 3 followed by the condensation of resulting 2-(6-methyl-1H-pyrazolo3,4-b]quinolin-1-yl)acetohydrazide (4) with aromatic aldehydes gave N-acylhydrazones 6(a–t). Structures of the synthesized compounds were established by readily available techniques such as FT-IR, NMR and mass spectral studies. The stereochemical behavior of 6(a–t) was studied in dimethyl sulfoxide-d₆ solvent by means of ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR techniques at room temperature. NMR spectra revealed the presence of N’-(benzylidene)-2-(6-methyl-1H-pyrazolo3,4-b]quinolin-1-yl)acetohydrazides as a mixture of two conformers, i.e., E_(C=N)(N-N) synperiplanar and E_(C=N)(N-N) antiperiplanar at room temperature in DMSO-d₆. The ratio of both conformers was also calculated and E_{(C=N) (N-N)} syn-periplanar conformer was established to be in higher percentage in equilibrium with the E_{(C=N) (N-N)} anti-periplanar form.