A convenient synthesis of 6,6′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine-4-ester and its application to the preparation of bifunctional lanthanide chelators

We describe a convenient scalable synthesis of 4-carbomethoxy-6,6′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine based on the application of modified Negishi cross-coupling conditions. The use of this building block in the preparation of a number of dissymmetrically 6,6′-trisubstituted-2,2′-bipyridines and of bifunctional lanthanide chelators is also reported.