Ethyl 4-chloro-2-trifluoromethylpyrimidine-5-carboxylate (55.7 g) was added to a mixture of 10% palladium-carbon catalyst (0.3 g), ethanol (1000 ml) and N,N-diisopropylethylamine (90 ml) as a starting material. The reaction was shaken under hydrogen atmosphere at 1 atm for 2 hours. After completion of the reaction, the catalyst was removed by filtration and the solvent was removed by evaporation. The residue was dissolved in dichloromethane, washed sequentially with ammonium chloride solution and water, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, and the solvent was evaporated to afford the target product, ethyl 2-(trifluoromethyl)pyrimidine-5-carboxylate, as a light yellow solid (48 g, 100% yield). The structure of the product was confirmed by 1H-NMR (CDCl3) δ 9.42 (2H, s), 4.51 (2H, q), 1.45 (3H, t) and 13C-NMR (CDCl3) δ 162.7,159.4 (2C), 159.3 (q, J=37Hz), 126.3,119.6 (q, J=275Hz), 62.9,. 14.4 Confirmed.
