Palladium catalysed hydrolysis-free arylation of aliphatic nitriles for the synthesis of 4-arylquinolin-2-one/pyrazolone derivatives

Abstract

Palladium catalysed addition of arylboronic acid to the readily available 2-cyano-(N-aryl)-acetamide or ethyl-2-cyanoacetate followed by subsequent reaction transform them into the biologically significant 4-arylquinolin-2-one or pyrazolone derivatives. The reaction conditions are robust enough to prevent the hydrolysis of ester/amide moiety during arylation. In addition, the unactivated nitrile moiety in the acetonitrile also converted to the corresponding acetophenone derivative.