Access and modulation of substituted 1-methyl-1,6-dihydropyrazolo[3,4-c]pyrazoles

Despite the pharmacological potential of the pyrazolo[3,4-c]pyrazoles, only a few methods of preparation and direct functionalization of this moiety have been described. We report herein a convenient design of new pyrazolo[3,4-c]pyrazoles with a high therapeutic impact. The effective chosen strategy consists of hydrazine condensations and C–N Ullmann-type cross-coupling reactions with microwave activation. Moreover, chemoselective bromination of the newly formed bipyrazoles followed by Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reactions allowed the synthesis of a variety of modulated heterobicycles.