2-Hydroxy-6-methyl-5-nitropyridine is a versatile building block that can be used to create a range of compounds, such as 5-Bromo-2-methylbenzaldehyde, 1-(5-Bromo-2-methylphenyl)ethanone, etc.
5-Bromo-2-methylbenzonitrile is a substrate for the enzyme benzoate kinase and is used as an intermediate in the synthesis of cyclen. It can be activated by addition of acid, which leads to a rapid increase in the rate of reaction. The kinetic data for this reaction have been analyzed and show that it obeys first order kinetics with respect to both 5-bromo-2-methylbenzonitrile and benzoic acid. This reaction is also catalyzed by an analog of cyclen, which binds to the enzyme more tightly than 5-bromo-2-methylbenzonitrile, resulting in a higher activation energy. It is possible to analyze the kinetics of this reaction using agarose gel electrophoresis or supercoiled DNA analysis.