Thioisomünchnones versus Acrylamides via Copper-Catalyzed Reaction of Thioamides with Diazocarbonyl Compounds

A novel carbenoid-mediated approach to thioisomünchnones was developed by intermolecular copper-catalyzed reactions of diazoacetamides with aromatic and heteroaromatic thioamides bearing a pyrrolidine moiety. The direction of the reaction can be switched toward 2-amino-2-heteroarylacrylamides by replacing the pyrrolidine with an aniline group or by the use of 2-cyano-2-diazoacetamides. The proposed mechanism and DFT calculations allowed us to rationalize the effect of substituents on the reaction direction. Effective methods were found for the synthesis of previously unknown both 2-heteroarylthioisomünchones and 2-heteroarylacrylamides, based on a wide scope of available reagents with a similar structure. Some of the synthesized thioisomünchnones exhibited multicolor fluorescence in the solid state and solutions.