Facile synthesis of new imidazoles from direct reaction of 2,3‐diamino‐1,4‐naphthoquinone with aldehydes

Abstract New imidazoles were easily prepared from 2,3‐diamino‐1,4‐naphthoquinone and stoichiometric quantities of the appropriate aldehydes in dimethyl sulfoxide as a solvent. The reaction proceeded for few hours. The procedure can be generalized to different classes of aldehydes. 2‐Methyl‐1 H ‐naphtho[2,3‐ d ]imidazole‐4,9‐dione was also obtained in good yield during refluxing of 2,3‐diaminonaphthoquinone in acetic acid. The structure of the newly synthesized imidazoles was extensively investigated using NMR experiments. J. Heterocyclic Chem., (2011).