Oxazole

Biosynthesis

In biomolecules, oxazoles result from the cyclization and oxidation of serine or threonine nonribosomal peptides:

Oxazoles are not as abundant in biomolecules as the related thiazoles with oxygen replaced by a sulfur atom.

Reactions

With a pK_a of 0.8 for the conjugate acid (oxazolium salts), oxazoles are far less basic than imidazoles (pK_a = 7). Deprotonation of oxazoles occurs at C2, and the lithio salt exists in equilibrium with the ring-opened enolate-isonitrile, which can be trapped by silylation. Formylation with dimethylformamide gives 2-formyloxazole.

Electrophilic aromatic substitution takes place at C5, but requiring electron donating groups.

Nucleophilic aromatic substitution takes place with leaving groups at C2.

Diels–Alder reactions involving oxazole (as dienes) and electrophilic alkenes has been well developed as a route to pyridines. In this way, alkoxy-substituted oxazoles serve a precursors to the pyridoxyl system, as found in vitamin B6. The initial cycloaddition affords a bicyclic intermediate, with an acid-sensitive oxo bridgehead.

In the Cornforth rearrangement of 4-acyloxazoles is a thermal rearrangement reaction with the organic acyl residue and the C5 substituent changing positions.

• Various oxidation reactions. One study reports on the oxidation of 4,5-diphenyloxazole with 3 equivalents of CAN to the corresponding imide and benzoic acid:

In the balanced half-reaction three equivalents of water are consumed for each equivalent of oxazoline, generating 4 protons and 4 electrons (the latter derived from Ce^IV).

Additional reading

• Fully Automated Continuous Flow Synthesis of 4,5-Disubstituted Oxazoles Marcus Baumann, Ian R. Baxendale, Steven V. Ley, Christoper D. Smith, and Geoffrey K. Tranmer Org. Lett.; 2006; 8(23) pp 5231 - 5234. doi:10.1021/ol061975c