Direct one-pot synthesis of zolimidine pharmaceutical drug and imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine derivatives via I2/CuO-promoted tandem strategy

An efficient one-pot synthetic protocol was developed for the synthesis of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines from easily available starting materials: Aromatic ketones, α,β-unsaturated ketones, β-keto esters and 2-aminopyridines. The present reaction proceeded well in MeOH under the media of I2/CuO. By using this method, the marketed drug zolimidine could be prepared easily with 95% yield. All these target products were characterized by NMR, HRMS and IR spectra. Furthermore, the target compound 3fa was determined by X-ray crystallographic analysis.

Graphical abstractAn efficient one-pot synthetic protocol was developed for the synthesis of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines from easily available starting materials. All the desired products were obtained in moderate to good yields. Moreover, this protocol can also be further applied towards the synthesis of the marketed antiulcer drug zolimidine with 95% yield.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide