Synthesis of 2-alkylthio-6-methylpyridine-3-carbaldehydes

The action of sodium bis(2-methoxyethoxy)aluminum hydride and its complex with piperidine on 2-alkylthio-3-cyano-6-methylpyridines and on their esters in anhydrous ether yielded 2-alkylthio-3-formyl-6-methylpyridines. The aldehydes obtained undergo condensation with malononitrile and methyl cyanoacetate to give the corresponding hetarylidene derivatives. Dedicated to Academician N. K. Kochetkov on the occasion of his 90th birthday. __________ Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 5, pp. 1195–1198, May, 2005.