Facile, one-step production of niacin (vitamin B3) and other nitrogen-containing pharmaceutical chemicals with a single-site heterogeneous catalyst

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/chem.200701679

Niacin (3-picolinic acid), which is extensively used as vitamin B ₃ in foodstuffs and as a cholesterol-lowering agent, along with other oxygenated products of the picolines, 4-methylquinoline, and a variety of pyrimidines and pyridazines, may be produced in a single-step, environmentally benign fashion by combining single-site, open-structure, heterogeneous catalysts witha solid source of active oxygen, namely acetyl peroxyborate (APB), in the absence of an organic solvent. The high activities, selectivities, and the relatively mild conditions employed with this single-site heterogeneous catalyst, coupled with ease of transport, storage, and stability of the solid oxidant, augurs well for the future use of APB in conjunction with other open-structure, single-site catalysts for fine-chemical, pharmaceutical, and agrochemical applications.