Environmentally Benign, Base-Promoted Selective Amination of Polyhalogenated Pyridines

An environmentally benign, highly efficient, and base-promoted selective amination of various polyhalogenated pyridines including the challenging pyridine chlorides to 2-aminopyridine derivatives using water as solvent has been developed. Featuring the use of the new method, the reaction is extended to the transformation on a large scale. Mechanistic studies indicate that the pathway involving a base aidant dissociation of N,N-dimethylformamide to generate dimethylamine is likely.