Hydrazine and quinoxaline derivatives of aryl L-ascorbic acid analogs

The synthesis of a series of 4-aryl-2-hydroxytetronimides (1) and their oxidation products (2) with nitrous acid is described. The aryl-2,3-dioxobutyrolactones (2) with acyl- or arylhydrazines gave the corresponding bisacyl- (3) or bisarylhydrazones (4). Furthermore, the lactones 2 with o-phenylenediamine gave, either quinoxaline derivatives (5) or Schiff bases (6) depending upon the reactant ratio.