Although many efforts have been devoted to the synthesis of imidaz0 [1, 2-a] pyridines, 3,~ the synthesis of 5, 6, 7, 8-tetrahydroimidazo [l, 2-alpyridines and other 1, 2-fused bicyclic imidazoles (such as 2) have not been reported. Inspired by the condensation method developed at the Sagami Chemical Research Centel. 5 for the preparation of 2-substituted imidazoles, consisting of simply heating amides with 2-aminoacetaldehyde dimethyl ...