Synthesis of Alkoxy Derivatives of Pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyridine-7-carbonitrile and Investigation of Their Application as Reagents for the Quantitative Determination of Mercury(II) Ions

A convenient approach for the dehydroxyalkoxylation of hydroxy derivatives of pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyridine into the corresponding alkoxy derivatives via refluxing in the presence of sulfuric acid in an excess of the corresponding alcohol as solvent has been proposed. The synthesized compounds have been investigated as reagents for quantitative determination of mercury(II) ions. The lead compound has shown the mercury(II) ions detection limit in the nanomolar range, which is comparable to the performance of known reagents based on compounds of small molecules.