Iron-Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidative Cleavage and Construction of C-N Bonds: A Facile Method for Synthesis of 2,4,6-Trisubstituted Pyridines

Abundant and inexpensive iron, readily catalyzed the oxidative tandem reactions of arylalkylketones and benzylamines using molecular oxygen as the green oxidant in one-pot solvent-free conditions. 2,4,6-Triaryl pyridines containing a wide variety of functional groups are synthesized from easily available starting materials. The synthetic importance of this reaction protocol has been demonstrated by preparing topoisomerase I and II inhibitors, and other valuable pyridine derivatives. Key intermediates are isolated and a plausible mechanism has been proposed.