A practical procedure for the selective N-alkylation of 4-alkoxy-2-pyridones and its use in a sulfone-mediated synthesis of N-methyl-4-methoxy-2-pyridone

It has been found that selective N-alkylation of 4-alkoxy-2-pyridones can be achieved under anhydrous, mild conditions with tetrabutylammonium iodide and potassium tert-butoxide being employed as the catalyst and the base, respectively. The procedure was applied to the preparation of 4-methoxy-1-methyl-2-pyridone, a valuable building block for heterocycle synthesis.