Concise, flexible syntheses of 4-(4-imidazolyl)pyrimidine cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) inhibitors

A flexible six-step synthesis of potential cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) inhibitors is reported. The synthesis involves the condensation between 3-chloro-4,4-dimethoxy-2-butanone and amidines, which provides acetyl-imidazoles and late stage palladium-catalyzed N-arylation to give the target pyrimidine derivatives.