Purines. LXVI. Adenine 7-Oxide: Its Synthesis, Chemical Properties, and X-ray Molecular Structure

A detailed account is given of the first unequivocal synthesis of adenine 7-oxide (8). The synthesis started with peroxycarboxylic acid oxidation of 3-benzyladenine (6), readily obtainable from adenine (1) by benzylation, and proceeded through nonreductive debenzylation of the resulting 3-benzyladenine 7-oxide (7). The location of the oxygen function in 7 and 8 was confirmed by their chemical reactions including deamination and methylation and by X-ray crystallographic analysis. A UV spectroscopic approach suggested that the neutral species of 8 exists in H2O as an equilibrated mixture of the N(7)-oxide (8) and N(7)-OH (21) tautomers. Treatment of 6 with 30% aqueous H2O2 in MeOH in the presence of MeCN and KHCO3 at 30°C produced the N(7)-oxide 7 and 7-acetamido-3-benzyladenine (15) in 12% and 1% yields, respectively.