Syntheses of pyridine and bipyridine frameworks combining dual fluorescent and magnetic probes.

[structure: see text] 2,6-Disubstituted pyridines, 6-substituted 2,2'-bipyridines, and 6,6'-disubstituted 2,2'-bipyridines are readily prepared under mild conditions from 5-(dimethylamino)-1-naphthalenesulfonamide chloride (DANS-Cl) and chloromethyl-nitronyl nitroxide (CH(2)Cl-NIT) starting materials and adequately functionalized building blocks. The syntheses of the pyridine molecules bearing two radicals and a DANS fragment first required the attachment of the aliphatic radical onto an aldehyde-protected dansylated compound, followed by the construction of the second aromatic radical.