TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The weak base used for adjusting pH in step (d) is alkali metal carbonates (comprising sodium carbonate or potassium carbonate) or alkali metal bicarbonates (comprising sodium bicarbonate or potassium bicarbonate). The amount of water used in step (e) with respect to (III) is 3-5 volumes.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The organic solvent used in step (a) and step (c) is chlorinated solvent (comprising dichloromethane, ethylene dichloride, chloroform, or chlorobenzene), ester (comprising ethyl acetate), ether (comprising isopropyl ether or dioxane), alcohol (comprising n-butanol) or hydrocarbon (comprising toluene or hexane), preferably ethyl acetate or dichloromethane. The amount of organic solvent used in step (a) with respect to methyl nicotinate is 1-3 volumes. The molar ratio of 70% nitric acid used with respect to (II) is 2-3. The molar ratio of acetic anhydride used with respect to (II) is 4-9. The amount of organic solvent used in step (c) with respect to (II) is 5-8 volumes. The alcohol used in step (e) is methanol, ethanol, propanol, or butanol, preferably methanol. The amount of alcohol used with respect to (III) is 2-3 volumes. ACTIVITY - Antianginal.    MECHANISM OF ACTION - None given.    EXAMPLE - 151.44 g of acetic anhydride was cooled to 0-5 degrees C and 60.12 g of 70% nitric acid was added drop-wise. The temperature was maintained at 0-5 degrees C during the addition. After completion of addition of 70% nitric acid, the mixture was stirred for 0.5 hour and 50 ml (1 volume) of pre-cooled ethyl acetate was added. The mixture was again cooled to 0-5 degrees C and while maintaining the temperature, 50 g of N-(2-hydroxyethyl)nicotinamide was slowly added. The temperature of the reaction mixture was raised to 25-30 degrees C and was maintained at the temperature for 1 hour. After completion of reaction, 275 ml of ethyl acetate was added to precipitate nicorandil nitrate salt and stirred at 25-30 degrees C for 1 hour. The precipitate of nicorandil nitrate salt was filtered out, washed with ethyl acetate and dried under vacuum at 35-40 degrees C. 240 g of nicorandil nitrate salt was dissolved in 840 ml of water to obtain a clear solution. Then, 12 g of activated charcoal was added to the clear solution and the mixture was stirred for 1 hour followed by filtration through hyflow bed. The hyflow bed was washed with 100 ml of water. The pH of the obtained filtrate was adjusted to 6.5-7 with sodium carbonate. The precipitate formed was filtered out to obtain a wet cake of crude nicorandil, which was further worked up to obtain pure nicorandil.