Benzyl alcohol (0.75 mL, 7.24 mmol) was slowly added dropwise to a cooled suspension of sodium hydride (60%, 300 mg, 7.5 mmol) in THF (20 mL) at 0 °C. After dropwise addition, stirring was continued for 30 min. Subsequently, 2,6-dichloropyrazine (999 mg, 6.71 mmol) was added and the reaction mixture was gradually warmed to room temperature and stirred overnight. After completion of the reaction, the reaction was quenched with saturated aqueous NH4Cl solution. The reaction mixture was extracted with ethyl acetate and the organic phases were combined and washed sequentially with water and brine. The organic phase was dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered and concentrated under reduced pressure to afford the crude product 2-benzyloxy-6-chloropyrazine (1.45 g, 5.33 mmol), which could be used in the next reaction without further purification.
