Furfural → 2-[2-{3-Pyridyl}ethenyl]furan

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a stirred -78° C. solution of diethyl 3-pyridylmethylphosphonate (3.0 g, 13 mmol), prepared as in step 3, in THF (50 mL) was added n-butyllithium (25 mL, 55 mmol, 2.5M in hexanes). The cold reaction mixture was stirred 0.5 hours followed by the slow addition of furfuraldehyde (1.24 g, 13 mmol). The reaction was stirred 2 hours at -78° C. and the ice bath removed and allowed to stir at ambient temperature overnight. Saturated NH4Cl was added and the mixture was diluted with ether. The organic layer was washed with brine, dried (MgSO4) and concentrated in vacuo. The resulting residue was purified by column chromatography on silica gel eluting with 40% ethyl acetate-hexanes to afford 1.1 g of 2-[2-{3-pyridyl}ethenyl]furan.

Provenance & Evidence