Synthesis of trifluoromethyl-substituted pyrazoles and 1,2,4-triazines by ring transformation of mesoionic 4-trifluoroacetyl-1,3-oxazolium-5-olates with phenylhydrazine.

Mesoionic 4-trifluoroacetyl-1,3-oxazolium-5-olates 1 were easily prepared by the cyclodehydration reaction of N-acyl-N-alkyl-alpha-amino acids with trifluoroacetic anhydride. Due to the presence of the trifluoromethyl ketone and the mesoionic five-membered oxazole, there are three reaction sites to be attacked by the nucleophiles at C-2, C-5 and the trifluoroacetyl group in 1. Based on this model, three modes of regioselective attack by phenylhydrazine were found to provide three different products, i.