An O-aminated naphthol AS-E was designed as a prodrug to achieve reductive activation and improved aqueous solubility. During the synthesis of this designed compound, a novel transformation from aryl triflates and ethyl acetohydroximate to oxazoles was discovered. Although the initially designed O-amino naphthol AS-E was not made successfully, the eventually synthesized O-tert-butylamino derivative was found to be biologically inactive, ...
