Synthesis of the 2H-quinolizin-2-one scaffold via a stepwise acylation-intramolecular annulation strategy

ORGN 796

Robert Tynebor, Robert_Tynebor@merck.com, Swaminathan Natarajan, Stephen Heller, Meng-Hsin Chen, Ellen Crawford, and James B. Doherty. Medicinal Chemistry, Merck Research Laboratories, PO Box 2000, Rahway, NJ 07095
This poster describes the development of a facile synthetic procedure to construct 2H-quinolizin-2-one scaffolds from various substituted/aza 2-picoline precursors. Formation of the benzylic anion via LiHMDS or LDA deprotonation, followed by treatment with ethyl 3-(trimethylsilyl)prop-2-ynoate produces the 1-pyridin-2-yl-4-(trimethylsilyl)but-3-yn-2-one intermediate. Removal of the silyl protecting group and thermal cyclization yields the 2H-quinolizin-2-one scaffold in good yield. Instances where a 3-alkyl or phenyl prop-2-ynoate are used, acylation and cyclization conditions were optimized to yield a one pot two step procedure to generate 4-alkyl/aryl 2H-quinolizin-2-ones from picoline derivatives.