Me₃Al-mediated domino nucleophilic addition/intramolecular cyclisation of 2-(2-oxo-2-phenylethyl)benzonitriles with amines; a convenient approach for the synthesis of substituted 1-aminoisoquinolines

• Krishna M. S. Adusumalli,
• Lakshmi N. S. Konidena,
• Hima B. Gandham,
• Krishnaiah Kumari,
• Krishna R. Valluru,
• Satya K. R. Nidasanametla,
• Venkateswara R. Battula and
• Hari K. Namballa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2765–2772, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.186

• achieved by treating 2-(2-oxo-2-phenylethyl)benzonitriles with amines in the presence of Me3Al. The reaction proceeds via a domino nucleophilic addition with subsequent intramolecular cyclisation. This method provides a wide variety of substituted 1-aminoisoquinolines with good functional group tolerance

• . Furthermore, the synthetic utility of this protocol was demonstrated in the successful synthesis of the antitumor agent CWJ-a-5 in gram scale. Keywords: 1-aminoisoquinolines; CWJ-a-5; intramolecular cyclisation; 2-(2-oxo-2-phenylethyl)benzonitriles; nucleophilic addition; Introduction Heterocyclic compounds

• -phenylethyl)benzonitriles was also examined. Scheme 3 summarizes the scope of 2-(2-oxo-2-phenylethyl)benzonitriles (3b–e) towards the domino nucleophilic addition followed by an intramolecular cyclisation of 2-(2-oxo-2-phenylethyl)benzonitriles with amines under optimal reaction conditions. Accordingly, 2-(2