Divergent synthesis of polysubstituted isoxazoles, isoxazoline N-oxides, and dihydroisoxazoles by a one-pot cascade reaction

An efficient one-pot synthesis of a new class of 3,4,5-trisubstituted isoxazoline N-oxides/isoxazoles and dihydroisoxazoles is developed by a green approach from aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes by controlling the reaction conditions. Aldehydes were reacted with ethyl nitroacetate in the presence of DABCO as a catalyst under ultrasonication. In aromatic aldehydes, isoxazoline N-oxides were obtained exclusively when the reaction was carried out at 40 degrees C, but raising the temperature to 80 degrees C isoxazoles were formed selectively. Aliphatic aldehydes, on the other hand, gave a mixture of isoxazoline N-oxides and dihydroisoxazoles where the ratio of these depended on the bulk of the aliphatic chain on the aldehyde. This is the first method for the synthesis of aliphatic 4-substituted-3,5-bis(ethoxycarbonyl)isoxazoline N-oxides and 4-substituted-3,5-bis(ethoxycarbonyl)-dihydroisoxazoles with good to excellent yields. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.