Domino reaction of alpha-acetyl-alpha-carbamoyl ketene dithioacetals with Vilsmeier reagents: a novel and efficient synthesis of 4-halogenated 2(1H)-pyridinones.

A novel and efficient route to 4-halogenated N-substituted 2(1H)-pyridinones has been developed via a one-pot domino process of readily available alpha-acetyl-alpha-carbamoyl ketene dithioacetals with Vilsmeier reagents. These 4-halogenated-2(1H)-pyridinones constitute useful intermediates due to the easy elaboration on either the pyridinone core (by the displacement of the halogen atom) or functionality transformation (dithiocarbonyl functionality) and have proven to be a useful synthetic scaffold in the synthesis of the bio- and pharmacologically important fused-ring diazepine core.