A convenient synthesis of alkyl-2-(2-imino-4-oxothiazolidin-5-ylidene)acetate derivatives involving an electrogenerated base of acetonitrile

摘要

We report a simple method for the synthesis of alkyl-2-(2-imino-4-oxothiazolidin-5-ylidene) acetate derivatives 3 in good yields under mild conditions. The electrogenerated cyanomethyl base (EGB), obtained from electroreduction of acetonitrile-0.1M TBABF(4), assists the reaction between thiourea derivatives 1 and dialkyl acetylene dicarboxylate 2. The expected products, 3/4, and the structure obtained from X-ray diffraction confirm that the main products are the five-membered heterocycles 3. Furthermore, a mechanism, to explain the reaction pathways, is proposed based on the thermodynamic and kinetic data obtained from quantum calculations.