No description of 4-pyridylacetic acid was found in a search of the available literature. Oparina6 described the synthesis of 2-pyridylacetic acid from 2-phenacylpyridine in 1934. Miescher and Kagi'l prepared 3-pyridylacetic acid in 1941 indirectly by the Amdt-Eistert* reaction from quinolinic acid-2-methyl ester-3-chloride. In the same year Hartman and Bosshards prepared the 3-isomer from 3-acetylpyridine by the Willgerodtlo reaction. Late ...
