Hydroxyacetonitrile → N-pyridin-3-ylethane-1,2-diamine

3-aminopyridine(1.88 g) and hydroxyacetonitrile(2.49 g) were refluxed in water(20 ml) with stirring for 1.5 hours and then the reaction mixture was extracted with ethyl acetate. The extract was dried over sodium sulfate anhydride and then concentrated under a vacuum. The solution of the residue in tetrahydrofuran(30ml) was dropped into the suspension of lithium aluminium hydride(1.13 g) in tetrahydrofuran (40ml) while being cooled with ice and the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 30 minutes. A small amount of water was added to the reaction mixture and then the resulting deposit was filtrated out. The filtrate was concentrated under a vacuum, thereby yielding 2.24 g of the aimed compound.