Novel and chemoselective dehydrogenation of 2-substituted imidazolines with potassium permanganate supported on silica gel

Various types of 2-imidazolines are efficiently oxidized to the corresponding imidazoles using potassium permanganate supported on silica gel under mild conditions at room temperature. 2-Alkylimidazolines are selectively converted to their corresponding imidazoles in the presence of 2-arylimidazolines. Chemoselective oxidation of 2-imidazolines in the presence of other oxidizable functional groups such as sulfide, ether, aldehyde, acetal, and THP ether was also achieved by this reagent system.