Copper(II)- and gold(III)-mediated cyclization of a thiourea to a substituted 2-aminobenzothiazole

Benzothiazole derivatives are a class of privileged molecules due to their biological activity and pharmaceutical applications. One route to these molecules is via intramolecular cyclization of thioureas to form substituted 2-aminobenzothiazoles, but this often requires harsh conditions or employs expensive metal catalysts. Herein, the copper(II)- and gold(III)-mediated cyclizations of thioureas to substituted 2-aminobenzothiazoles are reported. The single-crystal X-ray structures of the thiourea N-(3-methoxyphenyl)-N'-(pyridin-2-yl)thiourea, C₁₃H₁₃N₃OS, and the intermediate metal complexes aquabis[5-methoxy-N-(pyridin-2-yl-κN)-1,3-benzothiazol-2-amine-κN³]copper(II) dinitrate, [Cu(C₁₃H₁₁N₃OS)₂(H₂O)](NO₃)₂, and bis{2-[(5-methoxy-1,3-benzothiazol-2-yl)amino]pyridin-1-ium} dichloridogold(I) chloride monohydrate, (C₁₃H₁₂N₃OS)₂[AuCl₂]Cl·H₂O, are reported. The copper complex exhibits a distorted trigonal-bipyramidal geometry, with direct metal-to-benzothiazole-ligand coordination, while the gold complex is a salt containing the protonated uncoordinated benzothiazole, and offers evidence that metal reduction (in this case, Au^III to Au^I) is required for the cyclization to proceed. As such, this study provides further mechanistic insight into the role of the metal cations in these transformations.