Synthesis of 2-aryl/heteroaryloxazolines from nitriles under metal- and catalyst-free conditions and evaluation of their antioxidant activities.

The synthesis of structurally diverse 2-aryl/heteroaryloxazolines from nitriles and aminoalcohols has been achieved under metal- and catalyst-free conditions in good to excellent yields. An array of functional groups are well-tolerated, thus, allowing the introduction of many important biologically active motifs such as azoles, ring-fused azoles, saturated heterocyclics, and amines in 2-aryloxazoline scaffolds. An evaluation of the antioxidant properties using the DPPH (diphenyl picryl hydrazyl) assay method shows the pyrrole-functionalized 2-aryloxazoline to be the best antioxidant among all the synthesized 2-aryl/heteroaryloxazolines.