A Divergent Synthesis of Substituted 2-Aminoimidazoles from 2-Aminopyrimidines

A new divergent and efficient synthesis of substituted 2-aminoimidazoles 5 and 6 has been developed starting from the readily available 2-aminopyrimidines 1 and alpha-bromocarbonyl compounds 2, using conventional heating or microwave irradiation. Thus, the cleavage of 1,2,3-substituted imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidin-1-ium salts 4 with hydrazine or secondary amines led to 1,4,5-trisubstituted 2-aminoimidazoles 5, when the hydrazinolysis of 2-hydroxy-2,3-dihydro-1H-imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidin-4-ium salts 3, followed by a novel Dimroth-type rearrangement, resulted in formation of 2-amino-1H-imidazoles 6. The relevant pathway of transformations was identified by characterization of the intermediates.