Pyridine-2-carbaldehyde, also called 2-formylpyridine, is an

organic compound Some chemical authorities define an organic compound as a chemical compound that contains a carbon–hydrogen or carbon–carbon bond; others consider an organic compound to be any chemical compound that contains carbon. For example, carbon-co ...

with the formula NC₅H₄CHO. It is one of three isomeric pyridinaldehydes. The other isomers are pyridine-3-carboxaldehyde and pyridine-4-carboxaldehyde. Pyridine-2-carbaldehyde is a colorless oily liquid with a distinctive odor. Older samples are often brown-colored owing to impurities. It serves as a precursor to other compounds of interest in

coordination chemistry A coordination complex is a chemical compound consisting of a central atom or ion, which is usually metallic and is called the ''coordination centre'', and a surrounding array of chemical bond, bound molecules or ions, that are in turn known as ' ...

and

pharmaceutical Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...

s. Pyridine aldehydes are typically prepared by oxidation of the hydroxymethyl- or methylpyridines.

Reactions and uses

The drug

pralidoxime Pralidoxime (2-pyridine aldoxime methyl chloride) or 2-PAM, usually as the chloride or iodide salts, belongs to a family of compounds called oximes that bind to organophosphate-inactivated acetylcholinesterase. It is used to treat organophosph ...

can be produced from 2-formylpyridine. The aldehyde functional group is subject to nucleophilic attack, specifically by amines to form

Schiff bases In organic chemistry, a Schiff base (named after Hugo Schiff) is a compound with the general structure ( = alkyl or aryl, but not hydrogen). They can be considered a sub-class of imines, being either secondary ketimines#Nomenclature and classi ...

, which serve as bidentate ligands. Iminopyridine complexes can be remarkably robust.

References

{{reflist Aromatic aldehydes 2-Pyridyl compounds