Facile, one-step production of niacin (vitamin B3) and other nitrogen-containing pharmaceutical chemicals with a single-site heterogeneous catalyst.

Niacin (3-picolinic acid), which is extensively used as vitamin B3 in foodstuffs and as a cholesterol-lowering agent, along with other oxygenated products of the picolines, 4-methylquinoline, and a variety of pyrimidines and pyridazines, may be produced in a single-step, environmentally benign fashion by combining single-site, open-structure, heterogeneous catalysts with a solid source of active oxygen, namely acetyl peroxyborate (APB), in the absence of an organic solvent. The high activities, selectivities, and the relatively mild conditions employed with this single-site heterogeneous catalyst, coupled with ease of transport, storage, and stability of the solid oxidant, augurs well for the future use of APB in conjunction with other open-structure, single-site catalysts for fine-chemical, pharmaceutical, and agrochemical applications.