A versatile method for the synthesis of substituted 1-aminohydantoin derivatives

An efficient and versatile method has been developed for the synthesis of 1-aminohydantoin derivatives which can be substituted at all the possible positions of the hydantoin ring. The starting materials are aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids and hydrazides as well as isocyanates readily available from commercial sources. The semicarbazide-type reaction product of an N-acyl-N′-(1-cyanoalkyl)hydrazine, obtained from the above materials by methods known from the literature, and an isocyanate is cyclized in the presence of a basic catalyst to yield 1-acylamino-4-imino-2-oxoimidazolidine derivatives whose acid catalyzed hydrolysis leads to 1-aminohydantoin derivatives in good to excellent yields. The last two steps are carried out in a single reaction medium.