Mild Addition of Nucleophiles to Pyridine-N-Oxides

A general and facile one-pot procedure for the synthesis of 2-substituted pyridines from the corresponding pyridine-N-oxides and nucleophiles is presented as a mild alternative to SNAr chemistry. A variety of nucleophiles and heterocyclic-N-oxides participate effectively in this transformation, which uses the phosphonium salt, PyBroP, as a means of substrate activation.