Methyl 3-bromo-2-pyridinecarboxylate is an important halogenated pyridine heterocyclic building block. It contains reactive bromine atom and ester group on the pyridine ring, which can be used for Suzuki coupling, Heck reaction, nucleophilic substitution and hydrolysis reaction.

It is widely used as key intermediate in synthesis of anti-cancer drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs, kinase inhibitors and central nervous system related small molecule compounds. The ester group can be hydrolyzed to carboxylic acid or reduced to alcohol for further structural derivation, and it is also commonly used for medicinal chemistry compound library construction and SAR research.