Novel access to 1-substituted-benzimidazoles via benzotriazole-mediated synthesis

A one-pot good-yielding synthesis of 1-(alcoxymethyl)-1H-benzimidazoles and 1-((1H-benzimidazol-1-yl)methyl)-1H-benzotriazole from N¹,N²-bis((1H-benzotriazol-1-yl)methyl)benzene-1,2-diamine (3) and alcohols is described. The synthesis of 3 from macrocyclic aminal 6H,13H-5:12,7:14-dimethanedibenzo-d,i]1,3,6,8]tetraazecine (DMDBTA, 1) and benzotriazole is also described. Both these methods are simple, isolation of the products from the reaction mixtures is easy, and the yields are good.