Direct synthesis of novel 2-imino-1,3-selenazolidine derivatives from O-methanesulfonyl β-amino alcohol hydrochlorides

Recently, we have reported that 4,5-dialkylsubstituted 2-imino-1,3-azolidine derivatives (1) strongly inhibit inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). To our knowledge, only few methods have been reported for the synthesis of 4,5-dialkylsubstituted 2-imino-1,3-selenazolidine derivatives (2), which are the selenium analogue of 1. Herein, we report the direct synthesis of 2 from the corresponding O-methanesulfonyl β-amino alcohol hydrochlorides using potassium selenocyanate and evaluation for the inhibitory activity against iNOS of the newly synthesized selenazolidine derivatives.