Oxidative Cyclization Approach to Benzimidazole Libraries

An efficient approach to the parallel synthesis of benzimidazoles from anilines is described. Library approaches to vary the N1 and C2 vectors of benzimidazoles are well established; however, C4–C7 variation has traditionally relied on 1,2-dianiline building blocks, providing limited chemical space coverage. We have developed an amidine formation/oxidative cyclization sequence that enables anilines as a diversity set for benzimidazole C4–C7 SAR generation in parallel format. The amidine annulation was achieved using PIDA or Cu-mediated oxidation to access both N–H and N–alkyl benzimidazoles. This library protocol has now been utilized for analog production in four medicinal chemistry projects. Additionally, the synthesis of aza-benzimidazoles from aminopyridines was achieved via an analogous sequence.