Synthesis of aminouracil-tethered tri-substituted methanes in water by iodine-catalyzed multicomponent reactions.

An efficient, mild and environmentally benign protocol has been developed for the synthesis of aminouracil-tethered tri-substituted methane derivatives. The three-component reaction of 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthaquinone, 6-amino-1,3-dimethyluracil and aldehydes in the presence of molecular iodine as catalyst under reflux conditions resulted in aminouracil-tethered tri-substituted methane derivatives 4 in aqueous medium. Similarly, the four-component reaction of 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthaquinone, o-phenylenediamine, aldehydes and aminouracil derivatives resulted in aminouracil-tethered tri-substituted methane derivatives 6 under the same reaction conditions. The notable features of this protocol are simple experimental procedure, cheap catalyst, readily available starting materials, moderate-to-good yields of the products having biologically active important moieties such as aminouracil, hydroxy-naphthaquinone/benzophenazine.