Benzyl Bromide → Propanenitrile, 3-(phenylmethoxy)-

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a suspension of sodium hydride (60% dispersion in mineral oil; 14.6 g) in tetrahydrofuran (281 mL), ethylene cyanohydrin (21.0 mL) was added dropwise at 0° C. and the mixture was stirred at that temperature for 40 minutes. After adding benzyl bromide (44.4 mL) to the reaction mixture, the resulting mixture was stirred overnight as it was brought to room temperature. A saturated aqueous solution of ammonium chloride was added to the reaction mixture, which was then extracted with ethyl acetate three times. The combined organic layers were washed with saturated brine and dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate. The desiccant was removed by filtration and the filtrate was concentrated under reduced pressure. The resulting residue was purified by NH silica gel column chromatography (n-hexane:ethyl acetate=100:0-70:30) to give 3-(benzyloxy)propanenitrile as a colorless oil (24.7 g).

Provenance & Evidence