Organocobalt Compounds in the Synthesis of Pyridines–An Example of Structure‐Effectivity Relationships in Homogeneous Catalýsis

Abstract The cocyclization of alkynes with cyano compounds using organocobalt catalysts of the type YCoL has evolved into a versatile and technically useful method for synthesizing pyridine and its derivatives. An important advance came with the realization that the organo group Y remains attached to the cobalt throughout the catalytic cycle. This opened up the possibility of optimizing the catalyst by varying the controlling ligand Y.