Ethyl Acetate → Methyl 2-cyano-4-fluorobenzoate

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

A 100-mL single-neck round-bottomed flask equipped with a magnetic stirrer was purged with nitrogen and charged with methyl 2-chloro-4-fluorobenzoate (10.0 g, 53.0 mmol), copper (I) cyanide (5.22 g, 58.3 mmol) and 2-methylpyrrolidinone (30 mL). After heating at 195° C. for 1.5 h, the reaction mixture was cooled to room temperature and poured into water (600 mL). The resulting suspension was filtered, and the filter cake was washed with water (100 mL). To the solid obtained was then added a solution of sodium cyanide (3.00 g, 61.2 mmol) in water (110 mL), and the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 50 min. After this time, ethyl acetate (500 mL) was added, and the layers were separated. The aqueous phase was extracted with ethyl acetate (2×10 mL), and the organic extracts were combined, dried over sodium sulfate, filtered and concentrated under reduced pressure. The resulting residue was purified by flash chromatography to afford 123a in 73% yield (6.99 g) as a white solid: mp 92-93° C.; 1H NMR (500 MHz, CDCl3) δ 8.18 (dd, 1H, J=9.0, 5.5 Hz), 7.50 (dd, 1H, J=8.0, 2.5 Hz), 7.38 (m, 1H), 4.01 (s, 3H).

Provenance & Evidence