A Metal-Free Regioselective Multicomponent Approach for the Synthesis of Free Radical Scavenging Pyrimido-Fused Indazoles and Their Fluorescence Studies

This study deals with a new and efficient metal-free regioselective synthesis of pyrimido-fused indazoles with nitrogen ring junction motifs. We have developed a metal-free domino type reaction between 3-aminoindazole, aryl aldehydes and aceotophenones in the presence of KOH/DMF that leads to pyrimido[1,2-b]indazole analogues. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) coupled with a Box-Behnken design (BBD) were utilized for exploring the effect of base used (A), temperature of reaction (B) and (C), reaction time. This approach can allow access to a variety of pyrimidoindazole fluorophores and related compounds. The compound N,N-dimethyl-4-(2-phenylpyrimido[1,2-b]indazol-4-yl)aniline (4e) displays the maximum fluorescence intensity at 518 nm and shows a fluorescence quantum yield of 0.068. The synthesized pyramido-fused indazoles have been evaluated for their free radical scavenging activity and compound 4f showed good antioxidant activity.