Synthesis
Step 1: N-methoxy-N-methylnicotinamide (43 g, 0.259 mmol) was dissolved in 200 mL of tetrahydrofuran (THF), followed by the slow dropwise addition of propylmagnesium bromide Grignard reagent (42.3 g, 0.288 mol). The reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 1 hour. After completion of the reaction, the mixture was poured into water and extracted with ethyl acetate (EA). The organic phase was separated, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate and subsequently concentrated under reduced pressure. The resulting residue was purified by column chromatography (petroleum ether: ethyl acetate = 10:1) to afford 3-butyrylpyridine (15 g, 39% yield).
