Formamidineurea compounds exchange imine fragments with primary nitrogen nucleophiles, allowing the preparation of a variety of derivatives from a single precursor. The reactivities of these species are governed primarily by the electron-donating power of the substituents and are tunable over a range of >10(3) in first-order rates of hydrolysis.
[reaction: see text] Formamidineureas display a rich manifold of reactivity. Thiols induce substitution at the carbonyl carbon to give thiolcarbamates; base-mediated alkylation and acylation occurs at the terminal urea nitrogen, and a new fragmentation/acylation pathway has been uncovered with isocyanates.