Sternbach benzodiazepine synthesis

Treatment of quinazoline 3-oxide with amines gives the rearrangement product, 1,4-benzodiazepine. 

Stembach, L. H. In The Benzodiazepines From Molecular Biology to Clinical Practice, Costa, Erminio, ed. Raven Press New York, 1983, pp 1-20. (Review). 

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The thinking that led to the discovery and exploitation of the benzodiazepines by Dr Leo Sternbach and his associates illustrates the way this was done. Any molecular scaffold they decided to work on would be expected to fulfill the following criteria (1) be relatively unexplored, (2) be readily accessible, (3) give the possibility of a multitude of variations and transformations, (4) offer some challenging chemical problems, and (5) look as if it could lead to biologically active products. " While the rate of compound synthesis in those days... 

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