Water → 2,2-Bis(3-(trifluoromethoxy)phenyl)acetonitrile

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Reaction Steps

At 0° C. to a solution of bis(3-(trifluoromethoxy)phenyl)methanone (3 g, 8.6 mmol), prepared as described in Procedure 11, in DME (60 mL) was added 1-(isocyanomethylsulfonyl)-4-methylbenzene (3.3 g, 17.1 mmol) and tBuOK (25.7 mL, 1.0 M solution in tBuOH, 25.7 mmol). The reaction mixture was allowed to warm to rt and stirred for 18 h. H2O (100 mL) was added to the reaction mixture and the aqueous layer was extracted with DCM (3×100 mL). The combined organic layers were washed with sat. NaCl (50 mL), dried over MgSO4, filtered and concentrated under reduced pressure. The residue was purified by ISCO chromatography (150 g) using hexane/EtOAc (0-5% over 30 min, 5-20% over 20 min) to give 2,2-bis(3-(trifluoromethoxy)phenyl)acetonitrile as a yellow oil at a retention time of 46 min (1.4 g, 45% yield). HPLC: RT=4.13 min, Purity 100% (Phenomenex Luna C18 column, 4.6×50 mm eluting with 10-90% MeOH/H2O over 4 minutes containing 0.2% PPA; 4 mL/min, monitoring at 220 nm). NMR: 400 MHz 1H (CDCl3) 7.45 ppm, 2H, t, J=8.13 Hz; 7.30 ppm, 2H, d, J=7.91 Hz; 7.23 ppm, 2H, d, J=9.23 Hz; 7.17 ppm, 2H, s; 5.17 ppm, 1H, s.

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