Hydroxylation and amination of azulenes by vicarious nucleophilic substitution of hydrogen

Hydroxylation of azulenes with tert-butylhydroperoxide proceeds efficiently at the 6-position when the former contain electron-withdrawing substituents in the five-membered ring. Similarly, VNS amination of azulenes proceeds with 4-amino-1,2,4-triazole; its anion, being an active nucleophile, also reacts with unsubstituted azulene. A variety of transformations of 6-hydroxyazulenes, such as substitution of the corresponding sulfonates with nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, carbon nucleophiles and halogens, and the Claisen rearrangement of allylic ethers, is reported.