Thionyl Chloride → 2-Chloro-5-(chloromethyl)pyridine

Participants

Reaction Steps

Thionyl chloride (14.6 ml, 0.2 mol) was added extremely carefully in dropwise manner to a rapidly stirred mixture of 2-chloro-5-hydroxymethylpyridine (18.6 g, 0.13 mol) and chloroform (150 ml) at ambient temperature (20° C.). After addition was complete the resulting mixture was heated under reflux for 12 hours. The reaction mixture was then allowed to cool to ambient temperature (20° C.) and chloroform was evaporated off under reduced pressure to give a brown oil. The product, 2-chloro-5-chloromethyl-pyridine was isolated from this brown oil by flash chromatography using silica gel, 230 to 400 US mesh (0.062 mm to 0.037 mm), with dichloromethane as eluent, as a yellow oil which solidified on standing (17.45 g, 82.9%).

Provenance & Evidence