Abstract Our interest in the synthesis of optically active alkylpyridines led us to develop several synthetic routes to these products. 1–5 In particular, 2-alkylsuccinaldehyde monoacetals (1), which can be easily prepared without racemization through rhodium- catalyzed hydroformylation of α, β-unsaturated aldehyde acetals, 6 proved to be valuable starting materials for the preparation of optically active 3-alkylpyridines (6). 2
