Water → (3-Bromophenyl)acetonitrile

2-(3-Bromophenyl)acetamide (10.0 g, 46.73 mmol) (example 1) in dry 1,4-dioxane (100 mL) was cooled to 0° C. Triethylamine (18.91 g, 187.92 mmol) was added and the reaction mixture was stirred for about 10 minutes. Trifluoroacetic anhydride (39.26 g, 186.92 mmol) was added dropwise at 0° C. and the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for about 12 hours. The reaction mixture was poured into cold water, extracted with ethyl acetate, washed with water, dried over anhydrous sodium sulphate, filtered and the solvent evaporated under vacuum. An oily residue was obtained which was purified by column chromatography over silica gel using ethyl acetate and hexane (1:49) to afford the title compound as light yellow colored oil. Yield: 8.4 g.