Sodium Carbonate → Methyl 2-(chloromethyl)pyridine-3-carboxylate

Participants

Reaction Steps

Methyl 2-methylpyridine-3-carboxylate 1-oxide (2.93 g, 17.53 mmol) was stirred in refluxing POCl3 (17 mL, 182 mmol) for 3 hours. Room temperature was attained and the reaction mixture poured into ice-water. The resulting dark solution was neutralised with solid Na2CO3 and the mixture was extracted with EtOAc (3×). The combined organic extracts were washed with brine, dried over MgSO4, filtered, and concentrated in vacuo. Purification of the residue by silica gel chromatography (2-30% EtOAc/hexanes) gave methyl 6-chloro-2-methylpyridine-3-carboxylate as a pale yellow oil (A) and methyl 2-(chloromethyl)pyridine-3-carboxylate (B) as an orange oil.

Provenance & Evidence