Abstract
The reaction of 3-(dimethylamino)-2,2-dimethyl-2H-azirine (1) and 5,5-disubstituted barbituric acids 5 in i-PrOH at ca. 70° gives 2-[5-(dimethylamino)-4,4-dimethyl-4H-imidazol-2-y1]alkanamides of type 6 in good yields (Scheme 1). The formation of 6 proceeds with loss of CO2; various reaction mechanisms with a zwitterionic 1:1 adduct B as common intermediate are discussed (Schemes 2 and 5). Thermolysis of product 6 leads to 2-alkyl-5-(dimethylamino)-4,4-dimethyl-4H-imidazoles 8 or the tautomeric 2-alkylidene derivatives 8' via elimination of HNCO (Scheme 3). The latter undergoes trimerization to give 1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-trione. No reaction is observed with 1,5,5-trisubstituted barbiturates and 1 in refluxing i-PrOH, but an N-alkylation of the barbiturate occurs in the presence of morpholine (Scheme 4). This astonishing reaction is explained by a mechanism via formation of the 2-alkoxy-2-(dimethylamino)aziridinium ion H which undergoes ring opening to give the O-alkylated 2-amino-N',N'- dimethylisobutyramide I as alkylating reagent (Scheme 4).