Heteroaromatic annulation of 2-methyl/2-cyanomethylbenzimidazole dianions with alpha-oxoketene dithioacetals: a highly regioselective synthetic protocol for 1,2- and 2,3-substituted/annulated pyrido[1,2-a]benzimidazoles

A highly efficient and regioselective annulation protocol for a series of linearly 2,3- and angularly 1,2-substituted and annulated pyrido1,2-a]benzimidazoles involving 3 + 3] cyclocondensation of the dianions generated from 2-methyl (2A) and 2-cyanomethyl (3A) benzimidazoles with a variety of alpha-oxoketene dithioacetals has been reported. Thus the dianion 2A derived from 2-methylbenzimidazole has been shown to undergo regioselective 1,2-addition with various alpha-oxoketene dithioacetals derived from acyclic (4a-d) and cyclic ketones (13a,b, 20, 29 and 32) to afford various carbinol acetals which on intramolecular cyclocondensation in the presence of phosphoric acid furnish the corresponding 1-methylthio-2,3-substituted (5a-c) and 2,3-fused linear polycyclic (14a,b,21, 30, and 33) pyrido1,2-a]benzimidazoles in high yields. Similarly the dianion 3A from 2-cyanomethylbenzimidazole undergoes one-pot conjugate addition-elimination and cyclocondensation with these alpha-oxoketene dithioacetals to give 4-cyano-3-(methylthio)-1(or 1,2-)-substituted (6a-d) and the corresponding angularly 1,2-fused (16a,b, 23, 31, and 34) polycylic analogues of pyrido1,2-a]benzimidazoles in excellent yields.