Small molecules containing a 2-pyridone unit received
much attention
due to their significance in medicinal chemistry. In this regard,
development of novel methodologies via metal-catalyzed carbon–carbon
bond formation by chelation-assisted C–H activation will be
an attractive method to achieve therapeutically important 2-pyridone
analogues and arylated acid synthons. We report our studies on a Pd(II)-catalyzed
coupling reaction between methyl, aryl, heteroaryl iodides, and sp2 carbons both at β- and γ-positions using 3-amino-1-methyl-1H-pyridin-2-one as an efficient, built-in bidentate N,O-directing group (DG) toward the synthesis
of pyridone derivatives. The effect of temperature, solvent, reagent
equivalence, and substrate has been investigated for this DG-mediated
late-stage functionalization reactions along with the crystal structure
of a selected analogue. Moreover, this DG has been successfully applied
for ortho-selective C(sp2)–H activation in aqueous
medium in high yields to demonstrate the practicability of this present
methodology.