A simple and efficient route to 2‐arylimidazo1,2‐apyridines and zolimidine using automated grindstone chemistry

Abstract A green and efficient mechanochemical method for the synthesis of a series of 2‐arylimidazo1,2‐apyridines was developed using an electrical grinder. I 2 catalyzed mechanochemical grinding facilitates the cyclocondensation reaction between various aryl methyl ketones and 2‐aminopyridines to afford 2‐arylimidazo1,2‐apyridines in good yields at ambient temperature. The method was successfully used for the gram‐scale synthesis of a marketed drug, zolimidine. The noticeable advantages of this environmentally sustainable protocol include mild conditions, simple instrumentation, inexpensive catalyst, atom economy, short reaction time etc.