Magnesium/methanol: an effective reducing agent for chemoselective reduction of pyrimidine-2(1H)-ones

Magnesium in methanol is an effective reagent for the chemoselective reduction of pyrimidine-2(1H)-ones. Other reducible functionalities such as ester and alkene of enamine ester and uriedo carbonyl remain unaffected. This constitutes the first example of the formation of Biginelli 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)ones through the reduction of pyrimidine-2(1H)-ones.