Facile synthesis of hydantoins and thiohydantoins in aqueous solution

A series of hydantoins and thiohydantoins have been synthesized in water at room temperature from urea (or N-methylurea, or thiourea) and simple aldehydes (as glyoxal, and its simple derivatives) in the presence of phosphoric anhydride. The reaction time is 10 min using an equimolar amount of P4O10 with respect to the other reagents, but the reaction occurs also, even if with longer reaction times, with very small amounts of P4O10.In addition, this method provides a clean and 'green' approach to hydantoins, compounds of great interest in biological and pharmacological fields.