Acid-Promoted Multicomponent Tandem Cyclization to Synthesize Fully Substituted Oxazoles via Robinson–Gabriel-Type Reaction

An acid-promoted multicomponent reaction for the synthesis of diverse fully substituted oxazole derivatives from simple and readily available arylglyoxal monohydrates, nitriles, and various C-nucleophiles has been developed. This protocol features wide functional group diversity which is capable of installing 4-hydroxycoumarin, 2-naphthol, and 1,3-cyclohexanedione motifs to oxazoles. Mechanistic analysis indicates that a classical Robinson–Gabriel reaction served as the key step for this tandem transformation.