Thiazole from Hantzsch method

The unsubstituted 5,5 -isomer (76) is not readily available by the Hantzsch method. It was first prepared (Scheme 29) by diazotization of a diamino derivative (53HCA354) obtained by a benzidine-like rearrangement (51CB518), and has since been prepared by cross-coupling of the chloro- and trimethylstannyl-thiazoles (87S185). The 4,4 -bis(ethoxycar-bonyl) derivative has been prepared from thiooxalic esters by reaction... 

Probably first obtained by Hantzsch and Arapides (105) by condensation of a,/3-dichlorether with barium thiocyanate, and identified by its pyridine-like odor, thiazole was first prepared in 1889 by G. Popp (104) with a yield of 10% by the reduction in boiling ethanol of thiazol-2-yldiazonium sulfate resulting from the diazotization of 2-aminothiazole. prepared the year before by Traumann (103). The unique cyclization reaction affording directly the thiazole molecule was described in 1914 by Gabriel and Bachstez (106). They applied the method of cyclization, developed by Gabriel (107, 108), to the diethylacetal of 2-formylamino-ethanal and obtained thiazole with a yield of 62% - Thiazole was also formed in the course of a study on the ease of decarboxylation of the three possible monocarboxylic acids derived from it (109). On the other... 

The method has not been studied extensively and is restricted to the preparation of alkyl-, aryl-, or alkoxy-substituted thiazoles mostly in 2-, 5-, or 2,5-positions. Yields ranged from 45 to 80%. Sometimes this method gives good results when the usual Hantzsch s synthesis fails. There has been very little speculation about the mechanism of this reaction. 

The most widely used method for the preparation of carboxylic acids is ester hydrolysis. The esters are generally prepared by heterocyclization (cf. Chapter II), the most useful and versatile of which is the Hantzsch s synthesis, that is the condensation of an halogenated a- or /3 keto ester with a thioamide (1-20). For example ethyl 4-thiazole carboxylate (3) was prepared by Jones et al. from ethyl a-bromoacetoacetate (1) and thioformamide (2) (1). Hydrolysis of the ester with potassium hydroxide gave the corresponding acid (4) after acidification (Scheme 1). 

The Hantzsch synthesis of thiazoles is an excellent method for the synthesis of simple thiazoles, however for some substituted examples low yields have been reported as a result of dehalogenation of the a-haloketone. An alternative method for the synthesis of highly substituted thiazoles has been reported, thus starting from the 2-bromo-5-chlorothiazole 76 it was possible to introduce substituents selectively at the 2-position by a palladium-catalysed cross coupling reaction to give 77 (74-92%). In order to introduce a substituent into the 5-position,... 

Hantzsch s first important research was the synthesis of pyridine from acetoacetic ester and aldehyde ammonia, a general method of synthesis of pyridine derivatives. Coumarone, discovered by Fittig and Ebert (see p. 768), was (with some derivatives) synthesised by Hantzsch, who called it the fur-furane of the naphthalene series . He synthesised thiazole, and benzene, pyridine, and thiophen derivatives from derivatives of pentamethylene, and pyrrole, investigated tetrazoles, and perthiocyanic acid C2N2S3H2 (discovered by Wohler), giving it a cyclic structure." ... 

---