Thionyl Chloride → HCID 19421777, compound

Participants

Reaction Steps

The alcohol (5.31 g, 23 mmol) was dissolved in dichloromethane (40 ml) and treated with thionyl chloride (2.6 ml, 35 mmol) and dimethylformamide (catalytic 5 drops). The mixture was stirred overnight. The reaction mixture was evaporated in vacuo and azeotroped with toluene (2×10 ml) to give 3-(3-methoxyphenoxy)benzyl chloride as a light brown oil (5.57 g, 97%). The chloride (5.30 g, 21.3 mmol) was dissolved in dimethyl sulphoxide (20 ml), potassium cyanide (1.45 g, 22.4 mmol) was added and the mixture was stirred at room temperature overnight. The reaction was diluted with water (100 ml) and extracted with ether. The combined extracts were dried (MgSO4) and evaporated to give 3-(3-methoxyphenoxy)phenyl acetonitrile as a brown oil (4.04 g, 79%).

Provenance & Evidence