CONDENSATION OF TRIFORMYLMETHANE WITH GUANOSINE

Guanosine has been reacted with triformylmethane (TFM) in refluxing pyridine. Four different products, 4-7, were isolated by preparative RP-HPLC, and characterized by 1H and 13C NMR and UV spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. One of the products. the cyclic 1:1 adduct 4, is a stable cyclic carbinolamine formed probably by cyclization of the expected aminomethylene derivative 3. Compound 4 then undergoes reversible dehydration to the fully conjugated adduct 5. The appearance of the additional adducts, 6 and 7, suggests that TFM is prone to transformations resulting in the formation of methylenemalonaldehyde (9) and 1,1,3,3-tetraformylpropane (11).