Transition-metal-free synthesis of imidazobenzothiazines via domino C-S/C-N bond formation

Abstract The carbon-heteroatom bond formation is an important research field. Transition-metal-free synthesis of medicinally important heterocycles avoids products of transition metal contamination, and thus it is an environmentally friendly and cost-saving process. A transition-metal-free domino C-S/C-N formation for the synthesis of imidazobenzothiazines from 2-mercaptobenzimidazoles and 2-halobenzyl bromides is developed. The desired products were obtained in good to excellent yields. The mechanism of domino nucleophilic substitution (S N 2) and nucleophilic aromatic substitution (S N Ar) is proposed. Graphical abstract