A-Cyanocarboxylic acid amides

Carboxylic acids from a-cyanocarboxylic acid amides... 

Aliphatic dinitriles which have more than one methylene group between their functional groups, and ar. dinitriles, except o-dinitriles, give good yields of cyanocarboxylic acid amides when treated with strongly basic anion exchange resins. F. e. s. G. Berther, B. 92, 2616 (1959) carboxylic acid amides from nitriies s. a. J. M. Bobbitt and D. A. Scola, J. Org. Ghem. 25, 560 (1960). 

In contrast, the nitrile hydratase of R. rhodochrous IFO 15564, which was isolated by a screening using 3-hydroxypropionitrile and benzonitrile as the sole sources of nitrogen, was found to be (5)-selective toward substituted 3-hydroxyglutaronitriles [70]. Together with an (5)-specific amidase, it converted 3-benzoyloxyglutarodinitrile to the sole product (S)-cyanocarboxylic acid in an optically pure form without leaving any intermediate ( )-cyano amide (Fig. 21). 

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