1 Introduction

In recent years, multi-component domino reactions (MCRs) (Strecker 1850; Rezayati et al. 2015; Saberi 2015; Hasaninejad et al. 2015; Hashemi and Sardarian 2013; Esmaeilpour and Sardarian 2013; Mohamadpour et al. 2016a, b, 2015) have become one of the best approaches for economical and efficient synthesis of organic compounds. The special advantages of multi-component reactions include simple work-up, atom-economy, mild and environment-friendly, low cost, one-pot for the synthesis of organic compounds. Therefore, our recent studies focused on developing multi-component reactions.

Recently, the study for the synthesis of nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds such as 1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b] phthalazine-5,10-dione derivatives has attracted considerable interest of organic chemists because of their special biological (Genin et al. 2000; Singh et al. 2004) (Fig. 1) and pharmacological properties, for example, antibacterial (inhibitory activity against Escherichia coli FabH) (Lu et al. 2010), anticancer (Li et al. 2006), anti-inflammatory (Ryu et al. 2007), and cardiotonic (Nomoto et al. 1990).

Fig. 1
figure 1

Biologically active compounds with two-ring junction nitrogen atom

Thus, recently, a number of procedures for the synthesis of 1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b] phthalazine-5, 10-dione derivatives have been reported that include Lewis and Brønsted acid catalysts, for example, Ce(SO4)2.4H2O (Mosaddegh and Hassankhani 2011), SBA-Pr-SO3H (MohammadiZiarani et al. 2014), InCl3 (VeeranarayanaReddy and TaeJeeong 2013), NiCl2.6H2O (Song et al. 2012), [Bmim] OH (Raghuvanshi and Singh 2011), ultrasound-assisted (Nabid et al. 2010), p-TSA (Sayyafi et al. 2008), STA (Veeranarayana Reddy et al. 2014), CuI nanoparticles (Safaei-Ghomi et al. 2014), p-TSA/[Bmim]Br (Ghahremanzadeh et al. 2008), and TBBAD (Ghorbani-Vaghei et al. 2014). Some of these methodologies have limitations such as long time of reactions, low yields, toxic and expensive catalysts, difficult work-up, and use of strongly acidic conditions. Because of our interest in the development of environment-friendly procedures for synthesis of these heterocyclic compounds, we have reported ZrCl4 as a mild and efficient catalyst for the one-pot synthesis of 1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-5,10-dione derivatives from reaction between phthalimide (1, 1.0 mmol), hydrazine monohydrate (2, 1.0 mmol), aromatic aldehyde derivatives (3, 1.0 mmol) and malononitrile (4, 1.0 mmol) under thermal and solvent-free conditions (Scheme 1). During the past decades, the use of zirconium compounds as environmentally safe catalysts in organic synthesis has attracted great interest due to their notable advantages such as non-toxic, environment-friendly, easy to handle, high efficiency and low cost (Zhang and Li 2009; Zhang et al. 2007). The advantages of using ZrCl4 as catalyst (Sajadikhah et al. 2015; Sharma et al. 2006) in organic compounds synthesis are mild, inexpensive, non-toxic, environmentally benign nature, and high catalytic activity. And we carried out the one-pot multi-component condensations by ZrCl4 in good yields and short reaction times.

Scheme1
scheme 1

Synthesis of 1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b] phthalazine-5,10-dione derivatives

Furthermore, one of the sources of environmental pollutions is the usage of organic solvents under reflux conditions and the need of column chromatography to purify the products. In this present work, the products were obtained through simple filtering with no need for column chromatographic separation.

2 Experimental

2.1 General

Melting points of all compounds were determined using an Electrothermal 9100 apparatus. Also, nuclear magnetic resonance, 1H NMR spectra were recorded on Bruker DRX-400 Avance instruments with DMSO-d6 as solvents. In this work, all reagents and solvents purchased from Merck, Fluka and Acros chemical companies were used without further purification.

2.2 General procedure for preparation of pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-5,10-dione derivatives (5a–o)

A mixture of hydrazine monohydrate (2, 1.0 mmol), phthalimide (1, 1.0 mmol), and ZrCl4 (20 mol%) was heated at 80 °C for 2 h. Then, malononitrile (4, 1.0 mmol) and aromatic aldehyde (3, 1.0 mmol) were added and the mixture of reaction was heated for appropriate time. After completion of the reaction (monitored by thin-layer chromatography, TLC), the mixture was cooled to rt, and the solid products were filtered and recrystallized from ethanol to give the corresponding products (5a–o). Spectra data of all products are represented below:

2.2.1 3-Amino-1-(phenyl)-5,10-dihydro-5,10-dioxo-1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-2-carbonitrile (5a)

Yellow powder; yield: 87 %; m.p. 268–270 °C; 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6): 6.14 (1H, s, Hbenzylic), 7.33–7.48 (5H, m, HAr), 7.97–8.29 (6H, m, NH2 and HAr).

2.2.2 3-Amino-1-(4-bromophenyl)-5,10-dihydro-5,10-dioxo-1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-2-carbonitrile (5b)

Yellow powder; yield: 80 %; m.p. 266–268 °C; 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6): 6.14 (1H, s, Hbenzylic), 7.46 (2H, d, J = 11.2 Hz, HAr), 7.58 (2H, d, J = 11.2 Hz, HAr), 7.70–8.29 (6H, m, NH2 and HAr).

2.2.3 3-Amino-1-(2-nitrophenyl)-5,10-dihydro-5,10-dioxo-1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-2-carbonitrile (5c)

Yellow powder; yield: 83 %; m.p. 262–264 °C; 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6): 6.62 (1H, s, Hbenzylic), 7.61 (1H, t, J = 9.6 Hz, HAr), 7.73 (1H, t, J = 9.6 Hz, HAr), 7.85–7.91 (2H, m, HAr), 7.97–8.30 (6H, m, NH2 and HAr).

2.2.4 3-Amino-1-(4-methylphenyl)-5,10-dihydro-5,10-dioxo-1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-2-carbonitrile (5d)

Yellow powder; yield: 91 %; m.p. 255–257 °C; 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6): 2.30 (3H, s, CH3), 6.10 (1H, s, Hbenzylic), 7.18 (2H, d, J = 8.0 Hz, HAr), 7.34 (2H, d, J = 8.0 Hz, HAr), 7.97–8.28 (6H, m, NH2 and HAr).

2.2.5 3-Amino-1-(2-chlorophenyl)-5,10-dihydro-5,10-dioxo-1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-2-carbonitrile (5e)

Yellow powder; yield: 81 %; m.p. 258–260 °C; 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6): 6.47 (1H, s, Hbenzylic), 7.39–7.65 (4H, m, HAr), 7.91–8.31 (6H, m, NH2 and HAr).

2.2.6 3-Amino-1-(3-chlorophenyl)-5,10-dihydro-5,10-dioxo-1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-2-carbonitrile (5f)

Yellow powder; yield: 83 %; m.p. 267–269 °C; 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6): 6.15 (1H, s, Hbenzylic), 7.39–7.41 (2H, m, HAr), 7.44–7.48 (1H, m, HAr), 7.65 (1H, s, HAr), 7.88–8.29 (6H, m, NH2 and HAr).

2.2.7 3-Amino-1-(2-thenaldehyde)-5,10-dihydro-5,10-dioxo-1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-2-carbonitrile (5g)

Yellow powder; yield: 88 %; m.p. 246–248 °C; 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6): 6.09 (1H, s, Hbenzylic), 6.88–7.30 (4H, m, HAr), 7.96–8.28 (6H, m, NH2 and HAr).

2.2.8 3-Amino-1-(3-nitrophenyl)-5,10-dihydro-5,10-dioxo-1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-2-carbonitrile (5h)

Yellow powder; yield: 81 %; m.p. 270–272 °C; 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6): 6.35 (1H, s, Hbenzylic), 7.57–7.90 (4H, m, HAr), 7.95–8.51 (6H, m, NH2 and HAr).

2.2.9 3-Amino-1-(3-methylphenyl)-5,10-dihydro-5,10-dioxo-1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-2-carbonitrile (5i)

Yellow powder; yield: 94 %; m.p. 249–251 °C; 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6): 2.30 (3H, s, CH3), 6.08 (1H, s, Hbenzylic), 7.14–7.26 (4H, m, HAr), 7.97–8.29 (6H, m, NH2 and HAr).

2.2.10 3-Amino-1-(4-nitrophenyl)-5,10-dihydro-5,10-dioxo-1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-2-carbonitrile (5j)

Yellow powder; yield: 84 %; m.p. 226–228 °C; 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6): 6.30 (1H, s, Hbenzylic), 7.62–7.92 (4H, m, HAr), 7.96–8.45 (6H, m, NH2 and HAr).

2.2.11 3-Amino-1-(4-fluorophenyl)-5,10-dihydro-5,10-dioxo-1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-2-carbonitrile (5k)

Yellow powder; yield: 93 %; m.p. 262-264 °C; 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6): 6.17 (1H, s, Hbenzylic), 7.20 (2H, t, J = 8.8 Hz, HAr), 7.53–7.57 (2H, m, HAr), 7.96–8.26 (6H, m, NH2 and HAr).

2.2.12 3-Amino-1-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)-5,10-dihydro-5,10-dioxo-1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-2-carbonitrile (5l)

Yellow powder; yield: 79 %; m.p. 251–253 °C; 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6): 3.66 (3H, s, OCH3), 3.76 (6H, s, 2 × OCH3), 6.07 (1H, s, Hbenzylic), 6.78 (2H, s, HAr), 7.89–8.29 (6H, m, NH2 and HAr).

2.2.13 3-Amino-1-(3-methoxyphenyl)-5,10-dihydro-5,10-dioxo-1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-2-carbonitrile (5m)

Yellow powder; yield: 82 %; m.p. 249–251 °C; 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6): 3.34 (3H, s, OCH3), 6.09 (1H, s, Hbenzylic), 6.88–7.30 (4H, m, HAr), 7.83–8.26 (6H, m, NH2 and HAr).

2.2.14 3-Amino-1-(4-chlorophenyl)-5,10-dihydro-5,10-dioxo-1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-2-carbonitrile (5n)

Yellow powder; yield: 86 %; m.p. 271–273 °C; 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6): 6.15 (1H, s, Hbenzylic), 7.43 (2H, d, J = 11.2 Hz, HAr), 7.54 (2H, d, J = 11.2 Hz, HAr), 7.88–8.28 (6H, m, NH2 and HAr).

2.2.15 3-Amino-1-(3-fluorophenyl)-5,10-dihydro-5,10-dioxo-1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-2-carbonitrile (5o)

Yellow powder; yield: 91 %; m.p. 261–263 °C; 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6): 6.16 (1H, s, Hbenzylic), 7.16–7.20 (1H, m, HAr), 7.33 (1H, d, J = 9.6 Hz, HAr), 7.39–7.46 (2H, m, HAr), 7.84–8.29 (6H, m, NH2 and HAr).

3 Results and Discussion

To carry out the preparation of 1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-5,10-dione derivatives in a more efficient way, the reaction of phthalimide, hydrazine monohydrate, benzaldehyde and malononitrile was selected as a model system under thermal solvent-free conditions to find optimization of reaction conditions. The preparation of 1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-5,10-dione derivatives was studied at different amounts of ZrCl4 as a mild and efficient Lewis acidic catalyst (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 mol%) and different reaction temperatures (rt, 40, 60, 80 and 100 °C) (Table 1). The reaction did not occur in the absence of catalyst (Table 1, entry 1). The best result was obtained using 20 mol % of ZrCl4 at 80 °C (Table 1, entry 5). Using the optimized reaction conditions, the scope and efficiency of these procedures were explored for the synthesis of a wide variety of 1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-5,10-dione derivatives. The results are summarized in Table 2. As shown in Table 2, the direct four-component reactions worked well with a variety of arylaldehydes including those bearing electron-withdrawing and electron-donating groups such as Cl, Br, NO2, OMe, …, and the desired compounds were obtained in good to excellent yields. This methodology offers significant improvements such as simplicity in operation with no necessity of chromatographic purification steps, low-cost and eco-friendly catalyst.

Table 1 Optimization of the reaction condition for the synthesis of pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-5,10-dione 5a
Table 2 ZrCl4-catalyzed synthesis of pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-5,10-dione derivatives under solvent-free conditions

The chemical structures of compounds (Table 2) were confirmed by melting point and 1H NMR spectroscopy. The structure of products was proved by comparison of spectroscopic data of some products with those of authentic samples (Table 3).

Table 3 Comparison of 1HNMR data for synthesis of 1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-5,10-dione derivatives

The proposed mechanism for the catalytic synthesis of 1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-5,10-dione derivatives in the presence of ZrCl4 is shown in Scheme 2. First, the reaction of phthalimide (1) with hydrazine monohydrate (2) produced phthalhydrazide (A). Next, in the catalytic system, the Knoevenagel-type coupling of arylaldehyde (3) and malononitrile (4) give rise to intermediate (B). Then, the subsequent 1,4-conjugate addition of phthalhydrazide (A) to the activated intermediate (B) followed by cyclization and tautomerization affords the corresponding product 5.

Scheme 2
scheme 2

Proposed mechanistic route for the synthesis of pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-5,10-dione derivatives

Comparison of catalytic ability of some of the catalysts reported in the literature for the synthesis of 1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-5,10-dione derivatives is shown in Table 4. This study reveals that ZrCl4 has shown its extraordinary potential to be an alternative mild, low-cost and eco-friendly catalyst for the synthesis of these compounds; in addition to the use of solvent-free conditions, excellent yield and short reaction times in the reaction are the notable advantages of this present methodology.

Table 4 Comparison of catalytic ability of some of the catalysts reported in the literature for the synthesis of 1H-pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-5,10-dione derivatives

4 Conclusion

In summary, zirconium tetrachloride (ZrCl4) as an efficient, eco-friendly Lewis acidic catalyst for the one-pot four-component clean synthesis of pyrazolo[1,2-b]phthalazine-5,10-dione derivatives by means of phthalimide, hydrazine monohydrate and the type of aldehydes derivatives, malononitrile under thermal and solvent-free conditions with excellent yields and short reaction times is studied. The notable advantages of the present methodology are low-cost and non-toxic catalyst, eco-friendly, mild, one-pot, highly efficient, environmentally benign nature, simplicity of operation with no necessity of chromatographic purification steps and solvent-free conditions.