Easily prepared azopyridines as potent and recyclable reagents for facile esterification reactions. An efficient modified mitsunobu reaction

The 2,2'-, 3,3'-, and 4,4'-azopyridines (azpy) and their alkyl pyridinium ionic liquids were studied as a new class of electron-deficient reagents for Mitsunobu esterification reactions. Among these compounds, 4,4'-azopyridine was found to be the most suitable one for esterification and thioesterification reactions. This new reagent promises to provide general and complementary solutions for separation problems in Mitsunobu reactions without restricting the reaction scope and facilitates the isolation of its hydrazine byproduct. The pyridine hydrazine byproduct can be simply recycled to its azopyridine by an oxidation reaction.