Synthesis of novel 2-phenyl-5-substituted dihydropyrimidines using 2-phenyl-1,3-diaza-1,3-butadienes and electron-deficient olefins

A novel synthetic method for 2,5-disubstituted dihydropyrimidines was developed. The cyclization of 1,3-diaza-4-dimethylamino-1,3-butadienes having a N-protecting group (N-Boc, N-Cbz, N-n-C ₄H ₉, N-Bn or N-Ph) with electron-deficient olefins, such as α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, phenyl vinyl sulfone, and acrylonitrile was studied in detail. The cyclization smoothly proceeded to afford 4-dimethylamino-1,4,5,6- tetrahydropyrimidines or 1,6-dihydropyrimidines in good yields. The isolated 4-dimethylamino-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyrimidines were converted to 2,5-disubstituted-1,6-dihydropyrimidines through the β-elimination of the dimethylamino group. 2,5-Disubstituted-1,4(6)-dihydropyrimidines were obtained after removal of the N-Boc or N-Cbz group. Independent tautomers of the resulting dihydropyrimidines were observed.