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.
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.