Methylpyrazine 1-oxides with phosphoryl chloride

Both 2-methylpyrazine 1- and 4-oxides (625) (obtained by oxidation of 2-methyl-pyrazine with peroxyacetic acid) on treatment with phosphoryl chloride have been claimed to give 2-chloro-3-methylpyrazine(626)but the 2-methylpyrazine-4-oxide used is now known to have been a mixture of the 1- and 4-isomers (734). More recently other workers (735, 736) have claimed that the mixed 2-methylpyrazine 7V-oxides with phosphoryl chloride gave a mixture of 2-chloro-3-, -5-, and -6-methylpyrazine but Nakel and Haynes (686) have shown that 2-methylpyrazine 1-oxide with phosphoryl chloride followed by sodium methoxide gave 2-methoxy-3-methylpyrazine and 6-methoxy-2-methylpyrazine, and 2-methylpyrazine 4-oxide (3-methylpyrazine 1-oxide) similarly treated gave only 2-methoxy-6-methylpyrazine. 3-Trifluoromethylpyrazine 1-oxide with benzenesulfonyl chloride at 1(X)° has been shown to give 2-chloro-6-trifluoromethylpyrazine (44%) (759). 

Earlier results from the reactions of 2-methylpyrazine 1-oxide and 3-methyl-pyrazine 1-oxide with phosphoryl chloride (626, 735, 736) now appear to have been clarified (686) [see Section 1V.3C(1)]. 

The reactions of various methylpyrazine A -oxides with phosphoryl chloride to... 

Matsuura and co-workers (756) have reexamined the reactions of the A -oxides of 2,5-dimethylpyrazine and found that 2,5-dimethylpyrazine di-A -oxide (29) when heated with phosphoryl chloride at 160° gave 2,5-dichloro-3,6-dimethylpyrazine (6%) (30), 3-chloro-2,5-dimethylpyrazine 1-oxide (5%) (31), and 5-chloromethyl-2-methylpyrazine 1 -oxide (9%) (32). In addition small amounts of other chlorinated products, 3-chloro-2-chloromethyl-5-methylpyrazine (33) and 2,5-bischloromethyl-pyrazine (34), were identified. These authors also examined the action of p-tosyl chloride, methane sulfonyl chloride, and mixtures of phosphoryl chloride and concentrated sulfuric acid, but state that these did not give good results. Pyrazine 1-oxide and phosphoryl chloride have been shown to give 2reaction conditions it gave 2-chloropyrazine 1-oxide (757). Pyrazine 1,4-dioxide and benzenesulfonyl chloride also gave a low yield of 2-chloropyrazine 1-oxide (758). 

Dichloro-3,6-dimethylpyrazine 1,4-dioxide with phosphoryl chloride at 170° gave 2,5-dichloro-3,6-bis(chloromethyl)pyrazine and 2,5-dichloro-3-chloromethyl-6-methylpyrazine 1-oxide and 2,5-dichloro-3,6-dimethylpyrazine 1-oxide gave 2,5-dichloro-3-chloromethyl-6-methylpyrazine (756). 

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