Sodium Cyanide → 4-Iodophenylacetonitrile

Participants

Reaction Steps

A mixture of 4.36 g (20.0 mmol) of p-iodotoluene (purchased from Tokyo Kasei), 3.9 g (22 mmol) of N-bromosuccinimide (purchased from Tokyo Kasei) and 60 ml of carbon tetrachloride (purchased from Wako Junyaku Kogyo) was refluxed under the irradiation by means of an incandescent lamp for 4 hours to give 2.67 g (yield: 45.0%) of 4-iodobenzyl bromide (as a white crystalline). Subsequently, to 0.49 g (10 mmol) of sodium cyanide (purchased from Kokusan Kagaku) in 10 ml of dimethyl sulfoxide (purchased from Aldrich) solution heated at 50° C. was added 1.48 g (5.00 mmol) of the above 4-iodobenzyl bromide, the mixture was stirred at ambient temperature for 3 hours, the resultant reaction mass was dissolved in water and extracted with hexane, and hexane was removed to give 0.84 g (yield: 68.9%) of 4-iodophenylacetonitrile as a white crystalline.

Provenance & Evidence