Synthesis of new 2-aminoimidazolones with antiproliferative activity via base promoted amino-β-lactam rearrangement

Abstract A facile and efficient transformation of amino-β-lactam guanidines to 2-aminoimidazolones is described. The base-promoted transformation proceeds in two steps, with the rearrangement of four-membered β-lactam ring to five-membered imidazolone and subsequent E1cB elimination and formation of double bond at the 4-position of imidazolone ring, which is supported with quantum chemical calculations. The benzoylaminoimidazolone and 2-aminoimidazolone products are obtained in high yields. The benzoylaminoimidazolone products show antiproliferative activity in HCT116 (colon carcinoma) and H460 (lung carcinoma) cell lines.