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

• . 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

• -2-phenylethyl)benzonitriles with amines to deliver 1-aminoisoquinolines and its successful application in the synthesis of antitumor agent CWJ-a-5. Results and Discussion Initially we targeted the synthesis of 2-(2-oxo-2-phenylethyl)benzonitrile (3a) by reacting 2-methylbenzonitrile with the

• found to be compatible with the present protocol delivering the corresponding 1-aminoisoquinolines (5v–x) in good yields (Scheme 4). The synthetic utility of this method was further extended towards the gram-scale synthesis of the antitumor agent CWJ-a-5. Accordingly, 2-(2-oxo-2-phenylethyl)benzonitrile