2-Chloropyridine-3-carboxylic acid (7.9 g) and thionyl chloride (45 ml) were heated for 3 hours in benzene (65 ml) under reflux. The reaction mixture was concentrated to leave an oil, which was added dropwise to ethanol (40 ml). The mixture was heated for a further one hour under reflux. The solvent was distilled, and the residue was dissolved in toluene. The solution was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate. The solvent was distilled to leave Ethyl 2-chloronicotinate (8.4 g, 90%) as a pale yellow oil.
