Copper-catalysed synthesis of 3,5-disubstituted isoxazoles enabled by pyridinyl benzimidazol (PBI) as a bidentate N-chelating ligand under mild conditions

Abstract

In this paper, we introduced pyridinyl benzimidazol (PBI) as an easy-to-handle and bidentate N-chelating ligand that promote clean synthesis of 3,5-disubstituted isoxazoles in the presence of copper acetate as catalyst. This catalytic approach initiates with the hydroxyamination of aldehydes followed by chlorination and then generation of nitrile oxide which subsequently undergoes click-type [3 + 2]-dipolar cycloaddition with alkynes to give isoxazoles. This method provides an alternative green process to construct isoxazole derivatives.