A novel and efficient route for the synthesis of 5-nitrobenzo[d]oxazole derivatives

In this paper, we report a novel and efficient route for the synthesis of 5-nitrobenzoxazole derivatives starting from 2-fluoro-5-nitroaniline and various benzoyl chloride derivatives under solvent-free conditions at 130 °C in the presence potassium carbonate. Benzoyl chlorides easily underwent nucleophilic acyl substitution followed by intramolecular cyclization via concomitant removal of fluorine to obtain the title compounds in high yields.