Caesium carbonate promoted regioselective O-functionalization of 4,6-diphenylpyrimidin-2(1H)-ones under mild conditions and mechanistic insight

Abstract

A facile one-step catalyst free methodology has been developed for the regioselective functionalization of 4,6-diphenylpyrimidin-2(1H)-ones under mild conditions. Selectivity towards the O-regioisomer was achieved by using Cs₂CO₃ in DMF without use of any coupling reagents. A total of 14 regioselective O-alkylated 4,6-diphenylpyrimidines were synthesized in 81–91% yield. In the DFT studies it was observed that the transition state for the formation of the O-regioisomer is more favourable with Cs₂CO₃ as compared to K₂CO₃. Furthermore, this methodology was extended to increase the O/N ratio for the alkylation of 2-phenylquinazolin-4(3H)-one derivatives.