Precise polarized Raman measurements of 2‐chloropyridine (2Clpy) in the region 560–1060 cm⁻¹ and 3‐chloropyridine (3Clpy) in the region 680–1080 cm⁻¹ at different concentrations in mole fraction of methanol were made to calculate the isotropic part of the Raman spectra, which has contributions only from vibrational dephasing. A detailed analysis of the Raman spectra was carried out to see the variation of peak position and linewidth. The dephasing is mode specific. The trigonal bending mode of 3Clpy has two components when it is mixed with methanol. The relative intensities of these two bands are used to calculate the equilibrium constants. The ring‐breathing mode of 3Clpy, on the other hand, remains single in the mixture. The appearance of a new band corresponding to the trigonal bending mode, as well as the nonappearance of that of the ring‐breathing mode, is also shown by the density functional theory (DFT) study of gas phase and methanol‐solvated complexes. The vibrational dephasing time for the hydrogen‐bonded ring‐breathing mode is calculated from the linear Raman linewidth and peak position data. For other modes, it was not possible to calculate the dephasing time because of the nonavailability of a suitable theoretical model. Contrary to 3Clpy, in 2Clpy the ring‐breathing mode becomes a doublet but the trigonal bending mode remains single. It is seen that the hydrogen‐bonding capacity of chloropyridines is highly influenced by the position of the Cl atom. Single and double components of these modes are also explained by DFT calculations. We obtained excellent match of the experimental and theoretical spectra with the B3LYP/6‐31 + G (d,p) method. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.