In a 250 mL round bottom flask, 3-bromo-2-chloro-5-nitropyridine (3 g, 12.63 mmol), ammonium chloride (1.35 g, 25.2 mmol) and zinc dust (8.79 g, 134 mmol) were suspended in MeOH (50 ml). The reaction mixture was heated for 2 hrs at 90 °C. The reaction was cooled to room temperature, filtered over celite, and concentrated in vacuo. The resulting solid was adsorbed onto silica and purified by silica gel chromatography (25-55percent EtO Ac/Heptane). 5-Bromo-6-chloropyridin-3-amine (1.85 g, 8.92 mmol, 70.6 per cent yield) was obtained as a yellow solid.
