1,2,3-benzotriazines. II. Reactions of benzimidazo[1,2-c][1,2,3]benzotriazines and naphth[1′,2′(2′,1′):4,5]imidazo[1,2-c][1,2,3]benzotriazine

A number of methyl- and halogeno-substituted benzimidazo[1,2-c][1,2,3]benzotriazines were subjected to a series of hydrolytic cleavages in acid media. The reactions of these compounds with dilute sulfuric acid yielded 2-(o-hydroxyphenyl)benzimidazoles. Concentrated hydrochloric acid produced a mixture of 2-(o-chlorophenyl)- and 2-(o-hydroxyphenyl)benzimidazoles. Hydrogen chloride in ethanol caused the formation of 2- phenylbenzimidazoles contaminated with small amounts of 2 - (o-chlorophenyl)benzimidazoles. The benzimidazo[1,2-c][1,2,3]benzotriazines underwent the Sandmeyer reaction to form 2-(o-chlorophenyl)- and 2-(o-bromophenyl)benzimidazoles in excellent yields. These reactions illustrated the behavior of these 1,2,3-triazines as internal diazonium compounds. Naphth[1′,2′(2′,1′):4,5]imidazo[1,2-c][1,2,3]benzotriazine behaved similarly. Bromination of some benzimidazo[1, 2 - c][1,2,3]benzotriazines in aqueous medium yielded bromine-substituted [1,2-c][1,2,3]benzotriazines.