Nitric Acid → 4-Methyl-3-nitrobenzonitrile

Participants

Reaction Steps

To conc. sulfuric acid (50 ml) was added p-tolunitrile (50 g) under ice-cooling and fuming nitric acid (38 ml) was added at the same temperature over 1 hr. The reaction mixture was poured into ice water (700 g) and the precipitated crystals were collected by filtration. The obtained crystals were washed with water to give yellow white crystals (90 g). The yellow white crystals were recrystallized from ethanol:water (9:1) to give the title compound (61 g) as white crystals.

Provenance & Evidence