Abstract The reaction between 2-hydrazinopyridines and ethyl imidates was examined as a one-pot method for rapidly preparing [1, 2, 4] triazolo [4, 3-a] pyridines. A diverse set of 2- hydrazinopyridines were cyclized with a variety of alkyl-and aryl-substituted ethyl imidates in good yields. The reaction proceeds optimally under mild conditions (50− 70 C) using 1.5 equiv of acetic acid. The electronic and steric properties of the hydrazine and imidate ...