Published data on the complexation of pyridine bases with organic substances of various chemical types are reviewed. Examples of the use of these data for the isolation of individual heterocycles are discussed.Heterocyclic nitrogen compounds in the products from coke-chemical production are present in the form of the light pyridine bases (in coke gas, including pyridine and its methyl-and dimethyl-substituted derivatives, and also a certain amount of quinoline) and heavy bases (quinoline, isoquinoline, methylquinolines, acridine, and a certain amount of pyridines) contained in coal tax.The light pyridine bases are extracted from the gas with sulfuric acid followed by treatment with ammonia to decompose the sulfates. The heavy bases, present in the tar, subsequently get into the various fractions of the tar during rectification. According to data in [1], the fractions containing the light pyridine bases contain 69% of pyridine, ___7.5% of methylpyridines (picolines) and dimethylpyridines (lutidines), >0.6% of trimethylpyridines (collidines), and -12% of quinoline. The coal tar contains [1] 0.2% each of quinoline, isoquinoline, and 2-methylquinoline (quinaldine) and also 0.6% of acridine; the content of pyridine and its methyl derivatives is 0.01-0.02% of each.The bulk of the quinoline bases is concentrated in the naphthalene and absorber fractions of the tar, from which 20-25% is extracted by sulfuric acid and subsequent neutralization of the sulfate solution by a solution of alkali and by ammonia solution (or gaseous ammonia). According to data in [2], in the bases of the naphthalene fraction 61.5% constitutes quinoline, -13% isoquinoline, and 7% quinaldine. In the bases of the absorber fraction the quinoline amounts to 28.4%, the isoquinoline to 13.5%, and the quinaldine to 9.54%. Most of the acridine is concentrated in the anthracene fraction (up to 7-8% of the fraction).In industry [1, 3] during the treatment of light pyridine bases (after removal of the phenols with alkali and dehydration) fractions consisting of pure (up to 98%) pyridine (114-1160C) and pyridine-solvent (120-137"C) are isolated by rectification methods. The pyridine-solvent consists of a mixture of pyridine and methylpyridines. The fraction containing most of the ,~-picoline (___74% of the potential amount)is collected in the range of 128-131~ while the fl-picoline fraction is collected in the range of 138-146~ [2]. (The latter contains 10% of ,~,-picoline, 32% of fl-picoline, 36% of,y-picoline, and >21% of 2,6-lutidine.) The fraction containing the lutidine bases is collected in the range of 158-167~ and the collidine fraction is collected in the range of 168-171~ The heavy pyridine bases (quinoline and its derivatives) are extracted from the tar fractions by washing with dilute sulfuric acid (15-17%) followed by decomposition of the sulfates with ammonia solution.The individual light and heavy nitrogen bases are mainly isolated by chemical methods sometimes in conjunction with rectification [2][3][4]. The most laborious is the isolation o...