Potassium Cyanide → (2-Fluoro-4-methoxyphenyl)acetonitrile

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a mixture of 1-Bromomethyl-2-fluoro-4-methoxy-benzene (4.5 g, 21 mmol) and Tetrabutylammonium iodide (0.66 g, 2.1 mmol) in CH2Cl2 (50 mL) was added a solution potassium cyanide (4.0 g, 60 mmol) in water (50 mL). The resulting biphasic mixture was stirred vigorously for 8 hours. The reaction was poured into water (100 mL) and extracted with CH2Cl2 (2×50 mL). The organics were washed with water (100 mL) and brine (100 mL), dried over Na2SO4, filtered and concentrated. The residue was purified by flash column chromatography (10–30% EtOAc in hexanes) to give the product (2.6 g, 75% yield) as a clear oil. 1H NMR (300 MHz, CDCl3) δ: 3.66 (s, 2 H), 3.82 (s, 3 H), 6.69 (m, 2 H), 7.31 (m, 1 H).

Provenance & Evidence