Multi-component synthesis of dihydropyrimidines by iodine catalyst at ambient temperature and in-vitro antimycobacterial activity.

An efficient and simple three-component domino synthesis of some new dihydropyrimidines (DHPMs) from aromatic aldehydes, 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds and N-(3-chloro-4-fluorophenyl)urea using molecular iodine as catalyst is described. The 1-substituted dihydropyrimidines were isolated in good to excellent yields (78-90%) within a short reaction time (4-6 h) at ambient temperature. The biological evaluation revealed that the newly synthesized compounds (4a-i and 5a-i) exhibited moderate antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H(37) RV.