Cyanides acetone cyanohydrin

To suppress the noncatalyzed reaction (which decreases the enantioselec-tivity) between acetone cyanohydrin and the substrate, ethyl acetate is required as a co-solvent, and a low reaction temperature is also essential. Han et al.22 found that in organic solution with a trace amount of water the above reaction proceeds with the same high enantioselectivity as in the presence of an aqueous buffer. The reaction can be carried out at a wide range of temperatures from 0° to 30° C. To avoid using highly toxic potassium or sodium cyanide, acetone cyanohydrin is used as a cyano donor. 

Guidelines a. Air ACGIH Threshold Limit Values for Occupational Exposure (TLV-TWA) Cyanogen TLV - Ceiling Hydrogen cyanide, sodium cyanide, calcium cyanide, potassium cyanide, acetone cyanohydrin Cyanogen chloride 21 mg/m3 5 mg/m3 0.75 mg/m3 ACGIH 1996... 

Keywords a-Cyanoliydrin, a-Aminonitrile, Hydrogen cyanide. Acetone cyanohydrin, TMSCN, Lewis acid. Cyclic dipeptide. Peptide-metal complex, Strecker synthesis... 

Potassium 3-aminopropylamide, 406 Potassium ascorbate 2-sulfate, 466 Potassium borohydride, 407 Potassium r-butoxide, 128-129, 293, 296, 407-408, 411 Potassium carbonate, 408 Potassium cyanide, 409, 453 Potassium cyanide-Acetone cyanohydrin, 409... 

Naked cyanide-acetone cyanohydrin a simple, efficient and stereoselective hydro-cyanating reagent. C. L. Liotta, A. M. Dabdoub and L. H. Zalkow, Tetrahedron Let., 1117(1977)... 

Equip a 1-litre three-necked flask with a mechanical stirrer, a separatory funnel and a thermometer. Place a solution of 47 g. of sodium cyanide (or 62 g. of potassium cyanide) in 200 ml. of water in the flask, and introduce 58 g. (73-5 ml.) of pure acetone. Add slowly from the separatory fumiel, with constant stirring, 334 g. (275 ml.) of 30 per cent, sulphuric acid by weight. Do not allow the temperature to rise above 15-20° add crushed ice, if necessary, to the mixture by momentarily removing the thermometer. After all the acid has been added continue the stirring for 15 minutes. Extract the reaction mixture with three 50 ml. portions of ether, dry the ethereal extracts with anhydrous sodium or magnesium sulphate, remove most of the ether on a water bath and distil the residue rapidly under diminished pressure. The acetone cyanohydrin passes over at 80-82°/15 mm. The yield is 62 g. 

Compounds with active hydrogen add to the carbonyl group of acetone, often followed by the condensation of another molecule of the addend or loss of water. Hydrogen sulfide forms hexamethyl-l,3,5-trithiane probably through the transitory intermediate thioacetone which readily trimerizes. Hydrogen cyanide forms acetone cyanohydrin [75-86-5] (CH2)2C(OH)CN, which is further processed to methacrylates. Ammonia and hydrogen cyanide give (CH2)2C(NH2)CN [19355-69-2] ix.orn. 6<55i the widely used polymerization initiator, azobisisobutyronitrile [78-67-1] is made (4). 

Estimates of various uses for hydrogen cyanide in the United States ate adiponitrile for nylon, 41% acetone cyanohydrin for acryhc plastics, 28% sodium... 

Cya.nideExcha.nge, Acetone cyanohydrin and methyl isobutyl ketone cyanohydrin [4131 -68-4] dissolved in an organic solvent, such as diethyl ether or methyl isobutyl ketone, undergo cyanide exchange with aqueous cyanide ion to yield a significant cyanide carbon isotope separation. The two-phase system yields cyanohydrin enriched in carbon-13 and aqueous cyanide depleted in carbon-13. Fquilibrium is obtained in seconds. 

Single-pass conversions of acetone cyanohydrin are 90—95% depending on the residence times and temperatures in the generator and hold tank. Overall yields of product from acetone and hydrogen cyanide can be >97%. There are no significant by-products of the reaction other than the sodium salts produced by neutralization of the catalyst. 

Cyanohydrin Synthesis. Another synthetically useful enzyme that catalyzes carbon—carbon bond formation is oxynitnlase (EC 4.1.2.10). This enzyme catalyzes the addition of cyanides to various aldehydes that may come either in the form of hydrogen cyanide or acetone cyanohydrin (152—158) (Fig. 7). The reaction constitutes a convenient route for the preparation of a-hydroxy acids and P-amino alcohols. Acetone cyanohydrin [75-86-5] can also be used as the cyanide carrier, and is considered to be superior since it does not involve hazardous gaseous HCN and also virtually eliminates the spontaneous nonenzymatic reaction. (R)-oxynitrilase accepts aromatic (97a,b), straight- (97c,e), and branched-chain aUphatic aldehydes, converting them to (R)-cyanohydrins in very good yields and high enantiomeric purity (Table 10). 

Acetone is first reacted with hydrogen cyanide to give acetone cyanohydrin Figure 15.2)... 

A plant produced methyl methacrylate by reacting hydrogen cyanide with acetone to produce acetone cyanohydrin followed by further processing to produce methyl methacrylate. The hydrogen cyanide was produced at another site and was transported to the methyl methacrylate plant by railcar. A hydrogen cyanide plant was subsequently installed at the methyl methacrylate plant site to eliminate the need for shipping hydrogen cyanide or acetone cyanohydrin. 

The reaction of 17-keto steroids with hydrogen cyanide (or acetone cyanohydrin) to form a mixture of the 17-cyano-17-hydroxy compounds, followed by dehydration and reaction with methyl Grignard reagent, is one of the earliest methods for the conversion of androstanes to pregnanes. 

The use of acetone cyanohydrin (in an exchange reaction) instead of alcoholic hydrogen cyanide affords even higher yields of 17-cyanohydrins and the former reagent has the added advantage of reacting quantitatively and essentially selectively with the 17-ketone of androst-4-ene-3,17-dione. Sodium hydroxide promotes the exchange reaction in some cases. 

The formation of adducts of enamines with acidic carbon compounds has been achieved with acetylenes (518) and hydrogen cyanide (509,519,520) (used as the acetone cyanohydrin). In these reactions an initial imonium salt formation can be assumed. The addition of malonic ester to an enamine furnishes the condensation product, also obtained from the parent ketone (350,521). 

A variety of reaction conditions have been developed for nucleophilic ring opening by cyanide.123 Heating an epoxide with acetone cyanohydrin (which serves as the cyanide source) and triethylamine leads to ring opening at the less-substituted position. 

HCN is the most preferred cyanide source in cyanohydrin synthesis. Besides HCN, several different cyanide sources, like potassium cyanide, are being used in biotransformation. Alternative methods for the safe handling of cyanides on a laboratory scale are, for instance, to use cyanide salts in solution. These solutions can be acidified and used as the aqueous layer in two-phase systems or the HCN can be extracted into the organic layer with the desired solvent for reactions in an organic phase. After the reaction, excess cyanide can readily be destroyed with iron(II) sulfate, or iron(III) chloride or bleach. Cyanide can also be presented in the form of organic cyano, such as acetone cyanohydrin [46] or cyanoformates. However, as claimed by Effenberger, some results could not be reproduced [47]. 

Organic cyanide compounds, or nitriles, have been implicated in numerous human fatalities and signs of poisoning — especially acetonitrile, acrylonitrile, acetone cyanohydrin, malonitrile, and succinonitrile. Nitriles hydrolyze to carboxylic acid and ammonia in either basic or acidic solutions. Mice (Mus sp.) given lethal doses of various nitriles had elevated cyanide concentrations in liver and brain the major acute toxicity of nitriles is CN release by liver processes (Willhite and Smith 1981). In general, alkylnitriles release CN much less readily than aryl alkylnitriles, and this may account for their comparatively low toxicity (Davis 1981). 

Maruoka and co-workers recently reported an example of a Zr-catalyzed cyanide addition to an aldehyde [64]. As is also illustrated in Scheme 6.20, the reaction does not proceed at all if 4 A molecular sieves are omitted from the reaction mixture. It has been proposed that the catalytic addition proceeds through a Meerwein—Ponndorf—Verley-type process (cf. the transition structure drawn) and that the crucial role of molecular sieves is related to facilitating the exchange of the product cyanohydrin oxygen with that of a reagent acetone cyanohydrin. The example shown is the only catalytic example reported to date the other reported transformations require stoichiometric amounts of the chiral ligand and Zr alkoxide. 

The potassium cyanide complex of 18-crown-6 in benzene or acetonitrile undergoes Michael addition to unsaturated carbonyl compounds (Liotta et al., 1977). In the presence of acetone cyanohydrin, the catalytic (i.e. catalytic in potassium cyanide and crown ether) cycle for hydrocyanation shown in (21)... 

In order to generate the dynamic cyanohydrin systems, several cyanide sources can be used, for example, cyanide salts, TMSCN, and cyanohydrin adducts such as acetone cyanohydrin. The latter method represents a means to form cyanohydrin DCLs under mild conditions, where acetone cyanohydrin is treated with amine base to release the cyanide ion together with acetone in organic solvents. The resulting cyanide ion then reacts with the set of aldehydes (or ketones), giving rise to the corresponding cyanohydrin adducts... 

The dynamic cyanohydrin libraries were generated from equimolar amounts of hve different benzaldehydes (23-27) and acetone cyanohydrin (28) in the presence of triethylamine. This resulted in release of cyanide ion and rapidly provided the cyanohydrin adducts (29-33), all as racemic mixtures of both enantiomers (DCL-D, Scheme 6.6). 

Acetone cyanohydrin nitrate will not nitrate amines with branching on the carbon a to the nitrate group. For these substrates the use of ethyl nitrate and lithium bases is favoured. a-Aminonitriles are frequently observed as impurities under the reaction conditions because of the slow decomposition of acetone cyanohydrin nitrate to hydrogen cyanide and acetone. The need for an excess of amine during these reactions is wasteful and only practical if this component is cheap and widely available. Other cyanohydrin nitrates are less efficient N-nitrating agents. ... 

---