Synthesis of novel alkynyl imidazopyridinyl selenides: copper-catalyzed tandem selenation of selenium with 2-arylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridines and terminal alkynes

• Mio Matsumura,
• Kaho Tsukada,
• Kiwa Sugimoto,
• Yuki Murata and
• Shuji Yasuike

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 863–871, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.87

• inexpensive and easy to handle Se powder as the Se source. The reaction proceeded with terminal alkynes having various substitutions, such as aryl, vinyl, and alkyl groups. The obtained alkynyl imidazopyridinyl selenide was found to undergo nucleophilic substitution reaction on Se atom using organolithium

• reagents and 1,3-dipolar azide–alkyne cycloaddition based on the alkyne moiety. Keywords: alkynyl imidazopyridinyl selenide; copper catalyst; imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine; selenium; tandem reaction; terminal alkyne; Introduction Imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines are important heterocycles that serve as key functional

• , and triethylamine resulted in the formation of the expected alkynyl imidazopyridinyl selenide 4aa in moderate to good yields (Table 1, entries 1–8). Among them, Na2CO3 was identified as the optimal base in terms of yield of product 4aa and reaction time (entry 5 in Table 1). Notably, during the one