Synthesis of 2-aryl-2H-[1,2,4]triazoloquinolin-3-one and 2-aryl-2H-[1,2,4]triazoloisoquinolin-3-one derivatives from α-chloroformylarylhydrazines hydrochloride

The reaction of α-chloroformylarylhydrazines hydrochloride with quinoline under air provided the corresponding 2-aryl-2H-[1,2,4]triazoloquinolin-3-ones 3a-3d in 33-42% yields and unexpected isomeric 2-aryl-2H-[1,2,4]triazoloisoquinolin-3-ones 4a-4d in 30-42% yields. These two isomers were isolated and fully characterized by spectroscopic methods including X-ray crystallography. By employing 3-methylquinoline as the starting material under the same condition, the reaction only gave compound 3e-3h as sole products in 70-82% yields without the formation of isomers. A plausible mechanism was proposed through electrophilic aromatic reaction, the tandem ring cyclization and ring-opening, and oxidation for the generation of 2-aryl-2H-[1,2,4]triazoloisoquinolin-3-ones (4).