We reasoned that amino esters 1 could be obtained by the use of the correctly substituted cyanopyridines 2 and 3 (Scheme [1] ). The envisaged strategy to obtain compounds 1a and 1c would use the ability of the 2- or 4-halopyridine to undergo nucleophilic aromatic substitution smoothly. By using ethyl glycolate as the nucleophile and 2-chloro-, 4-chloro-, or 4-iodo-3-cyanopyridine (2a, 2b, and 2c, respectively) as the electrophiles, we wished to obtain isomers 1a and 1c in ...
