Synthesis of nitro-containing isoquinoline-1,3-diones with tert-butyl nitrite

An efficient synthetic method for the nitro-containing isoquinoline-1,3-diones has been achieved with tert-butyl nitrite. This reaction features metal-free, safety, simple operation and mild reaction conditions, which represents the first example of using stable and safe tert-butyl nitrite as the nitro precursor for the synthesis of nitro-containing isoquinoline-1,3-diones. Furthermore, both the control experiments and density functional theory calculations (DFT) have confirmed that the reaction was occurred through the radical reactions. In addition, the representative compounds 3a and 3i displayed potential good inhibitory activities for the plant height of rape and the compound 3a displayed potential promotion activity of the root length for barnyard grass. An efficient method for the synthesis of nitro-containing isoquinoline-1,3-diones has been achieved with tert-butyl nitrite. Both the control experiments and density functional theory calculations (DFT) suggested these reactions were performed through radical reactions.image