Ring opening and skeletal reconstruction of 3-vinyl benzofuranone-chromone synthons: catalyst-free access to skeletally-diverse 2-pyridone and optically active imidazoline derivatives

Herein is reported the first example of ring opening and skeletal reconstruction of 3-vinyl benzofuranone-chromones 1 as versatile synthons, which can react with ammonia or primary aliphatic amines as binucleophiles, for the eco-friendly and atom-economical synthesis of diverse and functionalized 2-pyridones 3 with potential biological activity in good to excellent yields (77–93%). When using optically active 1,2-diphenylethylenediamine 2 as the binucleophile, the in situ generated 2-pyridone intermediates are successfully transformed to novel optically active functionalized imidazoline derivatives 4 with high efficiency (up to 87% yield). In particular, this is the first report on the catalyst-free intramolecular cyclization occurring between an amide and a primary aliphatic amine for the construction of imidazoline molecules.