Acetic Acid → 53313-92-1

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

To a stirred suspension of potassium cyanide (5.04 g, 78 mmol) in methanol (20 mL) was added 3-chlorobenzaldehyde (7.0 g, 50 mmol) at 0° C. under nitrogen atmosphere. Then acetic acid (4.4 mL) was added dropwise at 0° C. After 30 minutes, the mixture was warmed to 15° C. and stirred for 5 hours. Then the reaction mixture was concentrated to dryness and extracted with ethyl acetate (200 mL). The organic solution was washed with water (3×25 mL), brine (25 mL), dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate and concentrated to dryness. The resulting residue was purified by column chromatography (ethyl acetate:petroleum ether, 1:15) to afford (3-chloro-phenyl)-hydroxy-acetonitrile. (Yield 8.2 g, 97%).

Provenance & Evidence