Dimethylformamide → Methyl 5-cyano-4-isopropyl-2-methylbenzoate

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

To a dried round bottom flask was added methyl 5-iodo-4-isopropyl-2-methylbenzoate (compound 198.2, 2.00 g, 6.29 mmol, 1.0 equiv), zinc cyanide (1.48 g, 12.6 mmol, 2.0 equiv), DMF (20 mL) and Pd(PPh3)4 (364 mg, 0.315 mmol, 0.05 equiv). The system was purged with nitrogen followed by argon and the mixture was heated at 100° C. for 15 hours. The reaction was allowed to cool to room temperature then diluted with ethyl acetate (50 mL) and quenched with 1 M FeSO4 (25 mL). The mixture was stirred vigorously for 40 minutes then filtered through celite and washed with 1 M FeSO4 (15 mL), water (50 mL) and ethyl acetate (150 mL). The layers were separated and the aqueous phase was extracted with ethyl acetate (50 mL). The combined organic layers were washed with brine (4×100 mL), dried (Na2SO4), filtered, and concentrated in vacuo. The product was purified by silica column chromatography (hexanes to 8% ethyl acetate) to obtain the title compound (1.14 g, 83%). 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3): δ 8.19 (s, 1H), 7.25 (s, 1H), 3.91 (s, 3H), 3.37 (septet, J=6.8 Hz, 1H), 2.67 (s, 3H), 1.32 (d, J=6.8 Hz, 6H).

Provenance & Evidence