Amide derivatives of cyclic amines are common templates for biologically active chemical entities. To constrain the tertiary amide moiety of N-acylpiperidine-based GPIIb/IIIa antagonists for further structureˇactivity study, we have prepared new 1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-a]pyridines. The syntheses of two classes of triazolopyridines are reported. # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.