Selective synthesis of oxazoles and pyrazines from α-bromo-1-phenylethanone using a by-product-promoted strategy

Abstract Oxazoles and pyrazines are fundamental heterocycles that widely found in natural products or drugs. In this work, a selective strategy for oxazoles and pyrazines synthesis using α-bromo-1-phenylethanone and ammonium acetate as starting materials was reported. This methodology features mild reaction conditions, readily accessible starting materials and good chemoselectivity. Mechanistic study indicates that this reaction involves a by-product-promoted (BPP) process for the formation of oxazole, that is, the in-situ formed hydrogen bromide (HBr) during the reaction promotes the whole tandem process.