A novel route for the synthesis of highly congested aryl-tethered 2-aminobenzylamines through ring transformation of 2-pyranones

An innovative and efficient synthesis of highly congested 2-amino-3-aminomethyl-5-methylsulfanyl/sec-aminobiphenyl-4-carbonitriles 4 has been delineated through base catalyzed ring transformation of 6-aryl-4-methylsulfanyl/sec-amino-2H-pyran-2-one-3-carbonitriles 1 with Boc-protected 1,3-diamino-2-propanone 2, followed by TFA catalyzed hydrolysis of the intermediate [3-tert-butoxycarbonylaminomethyl-4-cyano-5-methylsulfanyl/sec-aminobiphenyl-2-yl]carbamic acid tert-butyl ester 3 in moderate yields as the TFA salts.