Potassium Cyanide → Methyl 4-cyano-2-(2-methylphenyl)benzoate

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Reaction Steps

The compound from Example 954B (1.55 g, 4.41 mmol) was dissolved in 10 mL of THF. Then Pd(PPh3)4 (120 mg, 2.2% eq) and powdered KCN (430 mg, 6.61 mmol, 1.5 eq) was added. The mixture was refluxed for 12 hr. GC/MS showed all the starting material was converted to the product. The mixture was extracted with ethyl acetate and water. After evaporation of solvents, the residue was purified by flash column chromatography (10:1=hexane/ethyl acetate) to give an oily product (978 mg, 88% yield). 1H NMR (CDCl3) δ 8.02 (d, J=8.1 Hz, 1H), 7.72 (d, J=7.9 Hz, 1H), 7.56 (s, 1H), 7.20-7.33 (m, 3H), 7.03 (d, J=7.4 Hz, 1H), 3.63 (s, 3H), 2.06 (s, 3H); 13C NMR (CDCl3) δ 165.9, 143.0, 138.5, 134.6, 134.2, 133.9, 130.3, 130.0, 129.3, 127.9, 127.6, 125.0, 117.3, 114.6, 51.8, 19.4.

Provenance & Evidence