Highly regioselective lithiation of pyridines bearing an oxetane unit by n-butyllithium

Abstract

The first regioselective ortho-lithiation at the 4-position of simple pyridine derivatives containing a 3-oxetane unit has been achieved using n-butyllithium as base. Electrophilic quenching of the resulting lithio species provides a rapid access to a broad range of new functionalized pyridine oxetane building blocks.