One-Pot Synthesis of Polysubstituted Imidazoles via Sequential Staudinger/aza-Wittig/Ag(I)-Catalyzed Cyclization/Isomerization.

A new one-pot preparation of polysubstituted imidazoles by a Staudinger/aza-Wittig/Ag(I)-catalyzed cyclization/isomerization has been developed. The easily accessible propargylazide derivatives reacted with triphenylphosphine, isocyanates, and amines sequentially to produce the fully substituted imidazoles in good overall yields in the presence of catalytic amount of AgNO3/DMAP.