Step 2: 5-(bromomethyl)-2,4-dichloropyridine (0.500 g, 1.87 mmol) was dissolved in acetonitrile (5.0 mL). To this solution was added sodium hydroxide monohydrate (UOH-H2O, 0.0960 g, 2.24 mmol) followed by slow dropwise addition of trimethylcyanosilane (0.280 mL, 2.24 mmol). The reaction mixture was stirred continuously at room temperature for 2 hours. After completion of the reaction, the reaction solution was diluted with ethyl acetate. The diluted solution was washed twice with water. The organic phase was dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, then the filtrate was filtered and concentrated to give a yellow oily crude product (394 mg). The crude product was purified by fast column chromatography (eluent: cyclohexane/ethyl acetate, 4:1) to afford the target product 2-(4,6-dichloropyridin-3-yl)acetonitrile (329 mg) in white solid form. The product was characterized by 1H-NMR (CDCl3): δ 8.5 (s, 1H), 7.47 (s, 1H), 3.82 (s, 2H).
