Hydrochloric Acid → 3-Oxo-3-(pyridin-2-yl)propanenitrile

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

To a mixture of sodium hydride (15 g, 60% in oil, 375 mmol) and ethyl 2-picolinate (50 g. 331 mmol) in anhydrous THF (250 mL) was added dropwise a solution of anhydrous acetonitrile (20 g, 487 mmol) in anhydrous THF (200 mL), at about 65° C. After complete addition the reaction mixture was heated at about 65° C., for about 5 h. After cooling to rt, ethyl acetate (500 mL) was added, followed by 1 M aq HCl (360 mL). The resulting layers were separated, and the aqueous layer was extracted with ethyl acetate (250 mL). The combined organic layers were washed with water (2×100 mL), dried (MgSO4), filtered, and concentrated in vacuo to give crude 3-oxo-3-(2-pyridyl)propanenitrile (48.6 g, 331 mmol, 100%), which was used as such in the next step. 1H-NMR (CDCl3, Bruker 400 MHz) δ 4.39 (2H, s); 7.58 (1H, m); 7.91 (1H, dt, J=2 Hz, 10 Hz); 8.11 (1H, dt, J=2 Hz, 10 Hz); 8.70 (1H, s).

Provenance & Evidence