Nitrosation pyrimidines, activated

The parent, 8-azapurine, has been made only by nitrosation of 4,5-di-aminopyrimidine, which is an item of commerce. - - The 7- and 8-alkyl derivatives of 8-azapurine, whether with or without further substituents, require 1,2,3-triazole starting materials (Section IV,B), of which the best source is Hoover and Day s historic condensation of benzyl azide with ethyl cyanoacetate or (better) cyanoacetamide. An 8-aralkyl group has been introduced similarly. In favorable cases, an 8-aryl group can be derived from the action of a benzenediazonium chloride on a pyrimidine that bears enough electron-releasing substituents to activate the 5 position (the Benson synthesis Section IV,A). 

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