Chiral Hexahalogenated 4,4′-Bipyridines

The preparation of 27 isomers of chiral hexahalogeno-4,4′-bipyridines by means of two complementary methods is described. The first one is convergent and based on the LDA-induced 4,4′-dimerization of trihalopyridines, whereas the second method is divergent and achieved through regioselective halogenation reactions of 4,4′-bipyridine-2,2′-diones. Iodine in 2,2′-positions of the 4,4′-bipyridines was introduced by a copper-catalyzed Finkelstein reaction (Buchwald procedure) performed on 2,2′-dibromo derivatives. Selected compounds of this new family of atropisomeric 4,4′-bipyridines were enantioseparated by high performance liquid chromatography on chiral stationary phases, and the absolute configurations of the separated enantiomers were assigned by using X-ray diffraction analysis. The latter revealed that various halogen bond types are responsible for crystal cohesion.