A practical and step-economic route to Favipiravir

A practical and step-economic route to Favipiravir, an antiviral drug, was developed. Favipiravir was synthesized in only six steps from 3-aminopyrazine-2-carboxylic acid with an overall yield of about 22.3%. Key intermediates 3 and 6 were obtained in excellent purity via recrystallization from optimized solvents, which was beneficial to large-scale production. In the key synthetic reaction, 3,6-dichloropyrazine-2-carbonitrile (6) was reacted sequentially, in one pot, with KF and 30% H2O2 to give (after crystallization from 95% EtOH) favipiravir as colorless crystals, with a 60% yield for this final step of the synthesis.