Ammonium chloride catalyzed one-pot synthesis of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines

Ammonium chloride as a very inexpensive and readily available reagent efficiently catalyzes one-pot, three-component Groebke condensation reactions of aldehydes, isocyanides, and 2-aminopyridines or 2-aminopyrimidines in methanol to afford the corresponding imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines in high yields at room temperature.