Pyridine is used to dissolve other substances. It is also used to make many different products such as medicines, vitamins, food flavorings, paints, dyes, rubber products, adhesives, insecticides, and herbicides. Pyridine can also be formed from the breakdown of many natural materials in the environment.
Over 100 medications on the market today include pyridine rings, such as Lunesta, commonly used to treat insomnia, Actos, commonly used to treat Type II diabetes, Nexium, commonly used to treat acid reflux, and Singulair, commonly used to treat asthma.
Pyridine depresses the nervous system giving symptoms akin to intoxication with vapor concentrations of above 3600 ppm pose a greater health risk. The effects may have a delayed onset of several hours and include dizziness, headache, lack of coordination, nausea, salivation, and loss of appetite.
Pyridine is a reasonable nucleophile for carbonyl groups and is often used as a catalyst in acylation reactions. The nitrogen atom in pyridine is nucleophilic because the lone pair of electrons on nitrogen cannot be delocalised around the ring.
