Metal‐Free Electrochemical Reduction of Nitroquinazoline Derivatives towards Synthesis of Afatinib and Dacomitinib

Abstract This research offers a reduction process for the nitro group via the electrochemical method as a step in the synthesis of anticancer drugs afatinib and dacomitinib. This methodology provides wide substrate coverage and exhibits functional group tolerance using carbon electrodes. This synthetic approach offers several advantages: (1) metal‐free reaction conditions, (2) absence of activated carbon, thus no filtration required in the work up process, (3) ambient‐temperature reaction conditions, and (4) shorter reaction time. Moreover, this procedure is tolerant to a diverse range of anilino and alkoxy derivatives at the C‐4 and C‐7 positions of the quinazoline ring, yielding satisfactory product yields (33%–88%).