Water → Benzoylacetonitrile

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a suspension of sodium ethoxide (34.0 g. 0.500 mole) in dry toluene (200 mL were added ethyl benzoate (71.4 mL, 0.500 mole) and dry acetonitrile (32 mL, 0.60 mole). The mixture was mechanically stirred under nitrogen at 105°-110° C. for 29 hours, during which time it became quite viscous. After cooling to room temperature, water (300 mL) was added and the mixture was washed with ethyl ether (2×100 mL). The aqueous layer was then acidified to pH 5-6 with con. aq. HCl (required 30-35 mL) and the resulting crystalline precipitate was collected by suction filtration, washed twice with water, and air-dried. This subtitled material (49.23 g, 68%, m.p. 72°-73°) was sufficiently pure to be used in further transformations (lit., m.p. 80°-81°, Long, R. S., J. Am. Chem. Soc., (1947), 69, p. 990. 1NMR (CDCl3, δ) 7.95 (dd, 2H, J=7, 2 Hz, o-aryl), 7.6 (m, 3H, aryl), 4.1 (s, 2H, CH2). This benzoyl acetonitrile intermediate is also now commercially available but we prepared ours as above.

Provenance & Evidence