Potassium ferrocyanide promoted an efficient synthesis of benzoxazoles and benzothiazoles under solvent free condition

In the family of heterocycles that includes benzoxazoles and benzothiazoles, there exist compounds with a wide range of biological activity. Because of this characteristic, we designed a moderate and effective technique for the synthesis of 2-substituted benzoxazole and benzothiazole using condensation of aldehyde and 2-aminophenol or 2-aminothiophenol via oxidation of carbon-nitrogen bond. Potassium ferrocyanide catalyzed one-pot synthesis is efficient and provides for quick reaction times, simple set-up and high yields. As a result, we provide here a technique for the rapid solvent free synthesis of benzoxazoles and benzothiazoles. Some synthesized products were identified by 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR and MASS. The role of potassium ferrocyanide as a catalyst is represented by plausible reaction mechanism.