An efficient one-pot conversion of carboxylic acids into benzimidazoles via an HBTU-promoted methodology

Benzimidazole is a privileged, and routinely used pharmacophore in the drug discovery process. Herein, we report a mild, acid-free and one-pot synthesis of indole, alkyl and alpha-amino benzimidazoles through a novel HBTU-promoted methodology. An extensive library of indole-carboxylic acids, alkyl carboxylic acids and N-protected alpha-amino acids has been converted into the corresponding benzimidazoles in 80–99% yield. Since alpha-aminobenzimidazoles are highly useful synthons as chiral ligands for chemical catalysis, as well as for drug discovery endeavors, our reported method provides direct access to this scaffold in a simple, one-pot operation from commercially available carboxylic acids.