Ketenes from N-(2-Pyridyl)amides
Methoxycarbonylketene 4a, methoxycarbonyl(methyl)ketene 4b, chloroketene 4c, cyanoketene 4d, diphenylketene 4e, and 2-pyridylketene 4f have been generated by flash vacuum thermolysis of the corresponding 2-pyridylacetamide derivatives 3a–f and isolated in Ar matrices for FT-IR spectroscopic characterisation. The N-(2-pyridyl)-2-pyridylacetamide 3f yielded 2-pyridyl isocyanate in addition to 2-pyridylketene.