Acetic Acid → 4-Cyanobenzyl acetate

Participants

Reaction Steps

p-Cyanobenzylamine (13.2 g), water (18 g), and methylene chloride (18 g) were mixed, and the mixture was stirred with cooling with ice. Acetic acid (18 g) was added to the mixture. Subsequently, a 20 wt % aqueous solution (51.8 g) of sodium nitrite was added dropwise to the mixture over a one hour period. The mixture was stirred at the same temperature for four hours. The reaction mixture was subjected to extraction with methylene chloride, and the organic solvent was concentrated. Water was added to the concentrated solution, and the residual organic solvent was removed through distillation, to thereby obtain 14.7 g of p-cyanobenzyl acetate (yield 84%). The purity of the product was 98%.

Provenance & Evidence