N-Methylthiomethylation of benzimidazoles with DMSO and their chemoselective oxidation to sulfoxides with NaBiO3

Mukhopadhyay, C., Tapaswi, P.K., Sarkar, S. and Drew, M. G. B. (2011) N-Methylthiomethylation of benzimidazoles with DMSO and their chemoselective oxidation to sulfoxides with NaBiO3. Arkivoc (9). pp. 393-406. ISSN 1551-7004

Abstract/Summary

A straightforward one-step method for the N-methylthiomethylation of benzimidazoles has been developed employing DMSO as a solvent and as a reagent. This methodology has been applied for the synthesis of diverse N-methylthiomethyl derivatives of benzimidazoles. The products can be chemoselectively oxidized to the corresponding sulfoxides with NaBiO3 in acetic acid. Both the N-methylthiomethyl derivatives of benzimidazoles and their corresponding sulfoxides are important medicinal scaffolds.