Pyrimidine preparation

Aside from the pyrimidine preparations which follow well-established strategies, several new pathways have been developed. In model studies for the synthesis of cylindrospermopsin, Weinreb and Keen reported a novel route to N-hydroxydihydrouracil 33 from a,P-unsaturated ester 30 followed by aromatization to give pyrimidone 34 <00TL4307>. 

Quinazolines, the benzo derivatives of pyrimidines, were prepared in a variety of ways, from methods analogous to those for synthesizing pyrimidines to vastly different condensation schemes. In analogous fashion to many pyrimidine preparations, Yang and coworkers reported the condensation of polymer-tethered amidines 109 with cyclic anhydrides 110 to yield a library of 2-amino-4(3//)-quinazoIinones 111 after cleavage from the resin <00TL7005>. 

Chlorouracil, in its protected form, can be formally viewed as a precursor in pyrrolo[2,3-rf pyrimidine preparations. Thus 135 is treated with 136, which presumably gives a 6-amino intermediate by displacing the chloro group, and subsequently cyclizes to 137 (Scheme 13) <1995JOC5069>. 

The preparation of 1 -(5-fluoropyrimidin-2-yl)piperazine moiety of 169 is depicted in Scheme 12.25. Heating 2-chloro-5-fluoro-4-(meihylthio)pyrimidine (prepared from 5-fluorouracil) with A-(ethoxycarbonyl)piperazine in acetonitrile afforded 170. The latter was converted into 171 by desulfurization, followed by acid hydrolysis of the carbamate moiety. 

Acetylation of hydroxyl groups and esterification of carboxyl groups have been observed ia a limited number of cases but, ia geaeral, have ao preparative advantage over chemical methods. By comparison, phosphorylation has been useful ia the preparatioa of modified purine and pyrimidine mononucleotides from their corresponding nucleosides, eg, 6-thioguanosiae [85-31-4] (51) (97). 

The type of synthesis in which the two-atom fragment supplies C-5 + C-6 is uncommon but useful in preparing pyrimidine- and 5,6,7,8-tetrahydroquinazoline-2,4-diamines. Thus, dicyandiamide (S78) with benzyl methyl ketone (S77) yields 6-methyl-5-phenylpyrimidine-2,4-diamine (S79), or with acetophenone it yields 6-phenylpyrimidine-2,4-diamine (62JOC2708). Likewise, with cyclohexanone it yields the tetrahydroquinazolinediamine (SSO) and by using N- substituted dicyandiamides, 2- and/or 4-alkylamino groups may be introduced (65JOC1837). 

It is possible to prepare pyrimidines from other heteromonocyclic compounds by a variety of processes, or from fused heterobicyclic systems which already contain a pyrimidine ring by preferentially degrading the unwanted second ring. In the latter case, the bicyclic system may best be made from a pyrimidine in the first place, occasionally even from the self-same pyrimidine to which it reverts on degradation. Such syntheses may be of interest but are certainly not of any utility. 

Most pteridines are degraded to pyrazines and when they do yield pyrimidines, these may well be the ones from which they were made. However, some useful preparations of pyrimidines from pteridines are known. Thus, reduction of pteridin-7(8//)-one (732) and subsequent hydrolysis yields N-(4-aminopyrimidin-5-yl)glycine (733) (52JCS1620) and hydrolysis of 5,8-dimethylpteridine-6,7(5Ff,8Ff)-dione (734) gives dimethyl-... 

The best way to make pyrimidine in quantity is from 1,1,3,3-tetraethoxypropane (or other such acetal of malondialdehyde) and formamide, by either a continuous (58CB2832) or a batch process (57CB942). Other practical ways to make small amounts in the laboratory are thermal decarboxylation of pyrimidine-4,6-dicarboxylic acid (744), prepared by oxidation of 4,6-dimethylpyrimidine (59JCS525), or hydrogenolysis of 2,4-dichloropyrimidine over palladium-charcoal in the presence of magnesium oxide (53JCS1646). 

R = H) is made similarly from its ester (789 R = Et), itself prepared by several obvious steps (see (i) below) from the pyrimidine (788) which can be made by primary synthesis (66AP362). 4-Aminopyrimidine-5-carbonitrile (790 R = CN), which may be made by primary synthesis, undergoes hydrolysis in alkali to the amino acid (790 R = C02H) it may be made similarly from the amide (790 R = CONH2) (53JCS331). 

There are several minor routes to pyrimidinethiones from thiocyanato- or amino-pyrimidines or by direct introduction of sulfur, but they are preparatively unimportant. 

The preparation of quinazoline-2(and 4)-thiones follows those of the corresponding pyrimidines (67HC(24-1)270) but there is at least one special primary synthesis for quinazoline-4(3H)-thiones, illustrated by the reaction of o-aminobenzonitrile with thioacetic acid at 110 °C to give 2-methylquinazoline-4(3H)-thione in 90% yield (53JA675). 

---