Copper-mediated reaction of 2-halopyridines with ethyl bromodifluoroacetate

A facile process for the preparation of substituted ethyl 2'-pyridyldifluoroacetates 3 is described starting from readily available ethyl bromodifluoroacetate 2 and substituted 2-bromo or 2-chloropyridines 1. This process features a copper-mediated cross-coupling reaction in DMSO and is the first to utilise pyridylbromides or chlorides with ethyl bromodifluoroacetate 2 in this reaction. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.