Formation of 4-aminopyrimidines via the trimerization of nitriles using focused microwave heating.

A series of substituted aliphatic nitriles have been trimerized to their corresponding pyrimidine structures under solvent-free conditions in the presence of catalytic quantities of potassium tert-butoxide using a focused microwave reactor. Multigram quantities of the corresponding 4-aminopyrimidines have been prepared in high yields and purity following a simple and scaleable protocol.