Methyl nitrite → 2-Hydroxyimino-4-(4-methoxy-phenyl)-but-3-enenitrile

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Reaction Steps

4-(4-Methoxy-phenyl)-but-3-enenitrile (5.0 g; 0.025 mmol) dissolved in 90 ml of methanol is treated with ca 0.050 mol of gaseous methyl nitrite in the same way as described in example 2.2. After stirring overnight at ca 25° C., the reaction mixture is rotary evaporated and partitioned between 200 ml of 0.5 N HCl and 200 ml ethyl acetate. The aqueous phase is extracted with 50 ml of ethyl acetate. The combined organic extracts are evaporated and purified by flash chromatography (150 g SiO2; hexane:ethyl acetate 80:20 v:v); to yield 2-hydroxyimino-4-(4-methoxy-phenyl)-but-3-enenitrile 1.8 g (36%) as a yellow solid which is used for the next reaction without further purification.

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