Cyclic and acyclic modifications of 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide

The Introduction gives a brief resume' of the biologically important aspects of 5 -aminoimidazole -4 -carbozamide (1) and explores., in-depth, the synthetic routes to this imidazole. All documented reactions of 5 -aninoimidanole-4 -carboxamide are reviewed in detail, with particular emphasis on the preparation and subsequent coupling reactions of 5 –diazo-imidazole-4 -carboxamide (6). A series of thirteen novel amide 5-amino-2-arylazoimidazole-4-carboxamide derivatives (117-129) were prepared by the coupling of aryldiazonium salts with 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide. Chemical modification of these azo-dyes resulted in the preparation of eight previously unknown acyl derivatives (136-143) Interaction of 5-amino-2-arylazoimidazole-4-carboxides with ethyl formate in sodium ethoxide effected pyrimidine ring closure to the novel 8-arylazohypoxanthines (144 and 145). Several reductive techniques were employed in an effort to obtain the elusive 2,5-diaminoimidazole-4-carboxamide (71),a candidate chemotherapeutic agent, from the arylazoiridazoles. No success can be reported although 5-amino-2-(3-aminoindazol-2-yl) imidazole-4-carboxamide (151) was isolated due to a partial reduction and intramolecular cyclisation of 5-amino72-(2-cyanaphenylazo)imidazole-4-carboxamide (122) .Further possible synthetic approaches to the diaminoimidazole are discussed in Chapter 4. An interesting degradation of a known unstable nitrohydrazone is described in Chapter 5.This resulted in formation of 1, 1-bis(pyrazol--3-ylazo)-1-nitroethane (164) instead of the expected cyclisation to a bicyclic tetrazine N-oxide. An improved preparation of 5-diazoinidazole-4-carboxamide has been achieved, and the diazo-azole formed cycloadducts with isocyanates to yield the hitherto unknown imidazo[5,1-d][1,2,3,5]tetrazin-7(6H)-ones. Eleven derivatives (167-177) of this new ring-system were prepared and characterised. Chemical and spectroscopic investigation showed this ring-system to be unstable under certain conditions, and a comparative study of stability within the group has been made. "Retro-cycloaddition" under protic and photolytic conditions was an unexpected property of 6-substituted imidazo[5,1-d][1,2,3,5]tetrazin--7(0)-ones.Selected examples of the imidazotetrazinone ring-system were tested for antitumour activity. The results of biological evaluation are given in Chapter 7, and have culminated in a Patent application by the collaborating body, May and Baker Ltd. One compound,3-carbamoyl-6-(2-chloro-ethyl)imidazo[5,1-d][1,2,3,5jtetrazin-7(6H)-one (175),shows striking anti-tumour activity in rodent test systems.