2,2 -Bipyridines, formation from pyridine with base

Rhodium-on-carbon has also been found to bring about the formation of 2,2 -biquinoline from quinoline, the yield and the percentage conversion being similar to that obtained with palladium-on-carbon. On the other hand, rhodium-on-carbon failed to produce 2,2 -bipyridine from pyridine, and it has not yet been tried with other bases. Experiments with carbon-supported catalysts prepared from ruthenium, osmium, iridium, and platinum have shown that none of these metals is capable of bringing about the formation of 2,2 -biquinoline from quinoline under the conditions used with palladium and rhodium. ... 

It would be expected that the stabilization of the adsorbed species by an extended conjugated system should increase with the number of aromatic rings in the adsorbed azahydrocarbon. However, data suitable for comparison are available only for phenanthridine, benzo-[/]quinoline, and benzo[h] quinoline. The large difference in the yields of biaryl obtained from the last two bases could be caused by steric interaction of the 7,8-benz-ring with the catalyst, which would lower the concentration of the adsorbed species relative to that with benzo[/]quinoline. The failure of phenanthridine to yield any biaryl is also noteworthy since some 5,6-dihydrophenanthridine was formed. This suggests that adsorption on the catalyst via the nitrogen atom is possible, but that steric inhibition to the combination of the activated species is involved. The same effect could be responsible for the exclusive formation of 5,5 -disubstituted 2,2 -dipyridines from 3-substi-tuted pyridines, as well as for the low yields of 3,3, 5,5 -tetramethyl-2,2 -bipyridines obtained from 3,5-lutidine and of 3,3 -dimethyl-2,2 -... 

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