New regio-selective method of combinatorial synthesis of substituted thiophenes, thieno[3,2-b]pyridines and other heterocycles via combination of ‘domino’-type reactions

We present a novel combinatorial multicomponent regio-selective approach towards the synthesis of thieno[3,2-b]pyridines and pyridine pyrans. The methodology is based on the ‘domino’-type reaction. The high regio-selectivity in this reaction is gained by the in situ generation of the mono-potassium salt of 2-cyano-1-mercaptoethenethiolate. We also demonstrate that the use of ethyl 2-cyanoacetate in this reaction as a CH-acid leads to the termination of the domino sequence at the Dieckmann condensation step and yields novel ethyl 3-(4-cyano-3-hydroxy-5-(alkylthio)thiophen-2-yl)-3-oxopropanoate.