Stereoselective synthesis of cis-1,3-disubstituted cyclobutyl kinase inhibitors

Two synthetic routes to a series of structurally novel kinase inhibitors containing a cis-1,3-disubstituted cyclobutane are described. The first route utilized addition of 3-aminocyclobutanol to 1,4-dinitroimidazole 5 as the crucial step in preparing 1, whereas the second route employed a novel 1,4-addition of 4-nitroimidazole 18 to in situ generated cyclobutenone 17 as the key reaction. This allowed for a stereoselective and shorter synthesis that eliminated the use of potentially explosive 1,4-dinitroimidazole 5. [structure: see text]