Substituted benzoquinazolinones. Part 1: Synthesis of 6-aminobenzo[h]quinazolinones via Buchwald-Hartwig amination from 6-bromobenzo[h]quinazolinones

6-(Morpholin-4-yl)benzo[h]quinazolin-4(3H)-one derivatives 18a,b were prepared under Buchwald-Hartwig conditions by reacting 6-bromobenzo[h]quinazolin-4(3H)-ones 13a,b with morpholine in the presence of a Pd(OAc)2/XantPhos system in 1,4-dioxane as solvent. The starting 6-bromobenzo[h]quinazolin-4(3H)-ones 13 were synthesized via condensation of the ethyl 1-amino-4-bromonaphthalene-2-carboxylate (11) with formamide (Niementowski reaction), and then reaction of the obtained benzoquinazolinone 9 with appropriates benzyl bromides. Compound 11 was prepared using a three-step procedure involving (a) metalation of the N-Boc- or N-Piv-protected 1-aminonaphthalenes with t-BuLi, followed by reaction with ethyl chloroformate, (b) bromination of the naphthalene ring of ester 3 using NBS, and next (c) deprotecion of the amine group with TFA or HCl. Biological screening of the potential cytotoxicity of compounds 8, 9, 18b on A549 and HT29 cell lines, as well as on the lymphocytes showed that compound 18b has interesting anticancer activities. The detailed synthesis, spectroscopic data, and biological assays were reported.