Mild addition of nucleophiles to pyridine-N-oxides.

A general and facile one-pot procedure for the synthesis of 2-substituted pyridines from the corresponding pyridine-N-oxides and nucleophiles is presented as a mild alternative to S(N)Ar chemistry. A variety of nucleophiles and heterocyclic-N-oxides participate effectively in this transformation, which uses the phosphonium salt, PyBroP, as a means of substrate activation.