Sentaro Okamoto

Reactivity of nitriles in a CoCl 2 −6H 2 O/dppe/Zn‐catalyzed diyne‐nitrile cycloaddition was explored through the competitive reactions of a diyne with two different nitriles, and it was found that cyanamides are good substrates, and the reaction yielded 2‐aminopyridines. Notably, N ‐unsubstituted cyanamide (H 2 N−CN) could be used for the reaction with 1,6‐diynes to afford the corresponding N ‐unsubstituted 2‐aminopyridines, which cannot be prepared via other catalytic reactions and are versatile intermediates for further transformations such as the synthesis of 2‐substituted pyridines and 6,7‐annulated imidazo[1,2‐ a ]pyridines.