A new, facile synthesis of 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane: cyclen

This report outlines a new and efficient synthesis of cyclen (1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane, 1) utilizing bis-imidazoline, 6 (1,1'-ethylenedi-2-imidazoline), with 1,2-dibromoethane. General conditions were developed, allowing for the simple, three-step synthesis of 1 at the multigram scale with an isolated overall yield approaching 65%. The cyclization of 6 produced by the condensation of triethylene tetraamine (TETA) with N,N-dimethylformamide dimethyl acetal, gave the twelve-membered, imidazolinium, cyclized intermediate bromide salt, 7 (2,3,4,5,6,7,8,8c-octahydro-1H-4a,6a,8a-triaza-2a-azoniacyclopent[fg]acenaphthylene), which hydrolyzed to 1 with the use of hot, aqueous caustic. Hydrolysis of 7 under milder conditions formed the 1,4,7,10-tetraazabicyclo[8.2.1]tridecan-13-one (20). Mechanistically, the formation of 7 may be rationalized as involving a diaminocarbene that undergoes an intramolecular carbon-hydrogen insertion.