A facile synthesis of structurally novel 1-aryl-2-arylamino-4-alkyl/phenyl-5-aroyl-1H-imidazoles from amidinothioureas

We report here a convenient and efficient two-step synthesis of 1-aryl-2-arylamino-4-alkyl/phenyl-5-aroyl-1H-imidazoles from easily available amidinothioureas. Guanylation of amidinothioureas 1 using mercury(II) chloride as a thiophile yielded amidinoguanidines 2, which reacted with various phenacyl bromides under mild conditions to afford the corresponding diversely functionalized imidazoles 3 in moderate to good yields.