Gram-Scalable Solvent-Free One-Pot Three-Component Synthesis of 2-Arylamino-3-Cyanopyridines

Organic compounds that can show fluorescence are utilized for numerous applications. Scalable synthetic routes for such compounds are a great part of academic as well as technological investigations in this area. In addition to fluorescent properties, pyridine compounds have been proven for other applications, especially in biological studies. A one-pot synthetic procedure is presented and 16 (14 new) compounds of the 2-arylamino-3-cyanopiridine family are being reported for the first time. Analytical methods including CHN, NMR (1H and 13C), IR, and MS were used to characterize the newly reported compounds. They all show blue to green fluorescence when irradiated with UV light. A scalable approach is also presented with more than 95% yield for obtaining these compounds with a fairly facile workup.