Synthesis and properties of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridinium-3-olate. Some revised structures

Reaction of 2-anilinopyridine with chloroacetyl chloride in the presence of N,N-dimethylacetamide resulted in the formation of the mesoion imidazo[1,2-a]pyridinium-3-olate instead of the reported 4-oxopyrimidinium-5-olate. We performed some functionalizations and present two single crystal X-ray analyses.