Cyanide alkyl halides

By the action of potassium cyanide on the corresponding alkyl halide. 

Strictly speaking the alkyl halides are esters of the halogen acids, but since they enter into many reactions (t.g., formation of Grignard reagents, reaction with potassium cyanide to yield nitriles, etc.) which cannot be brought about by the other eaters, the alkyl halides are usually distinguished from the esters of the other inorganic acids. The preparation of a number of these is described below. 

By refluxing an alkyl halide with sodium or potassium cyanide in aqueous - alcoholic solution, for example ... 

The large rate enhancements observed for bimolecular nucleophilic substitutions m polai aprotic solvents are used to advantage m synthetic applications An example can be seen m the preparation of alkyl cyanides (mtiiles) by the reaction of sodium cyanide with alkyl halides... 

A second factor that can tip the balance m favor of substitution is weak basicity of the nucleophile Nucleophiles that are less basic than hydroxide react with both pri mary and secondary alkyl halides to give the product of nucleophilic substitution m high yield To illustrate cyanide ion is much less basic than hydroxide and reacts with 2 chlorooctane to give the corresponding alkyl cyanide as the major product... 

Azide ion ( N=N=N ) is a good nucleophile and an even weaker base than cyanide It reacts with secondary alkyl halides mainly by substitution... 

Primary and secondary alkyl halides may be converted to the next higher carboxylic acid by a two step synthetic sequence involving the preparation and hydrolysis of nitriles Nitnles also known as alkyl cyanides are prepared by nucleophilic substitution... 

Section 19 12 Nitnles which can be prepared from primary and secondary alkyl halides by nucleophilic substitution with cyanide ion can be converted to car boxyhc acids by hydrolysis... 

Nitriles contain the —C=N functional group We have already discussed the two mam procedures by which they are prepared namely the nucleophilic substitution of alkyl halides by cyanide and the conversion of aldehydes and ketones to cyanohydrins Table 20 6 reviews aspects of these reactions Neither of the reactions m Table 20 6 is suitable for aryl nitriles (ArC=N) these compounds are readily prepared by a reaction to be dis cussed m Chapter 22... 

Section 20 18 Nitnles are prepared by nucleophilic substitution (8 2) of alkyl halides with cyanide ion by converting aldehydes or ketones to cyanohydrins (Table 20 6) or by dehydration of amides... 

Nucleophilic substitution by cyanide ion (Sections 8.1, 8.13) Cyanide ion is a good nucleophile and reacts with alkyl halides to give nitriles. The reaction is of the S m2 type and is limited to primary and secondary alkyl halides. Tertiary alkyl halides undergo elimination aryl and vinyl halides do not react. 

Because nitriles can be prepaied from alkyl halides by nucleophilic substitution with cyanide ion, the overall process RX RC=N RCH2NH2 leads to primary fflnines that have one more carbon atom than the starting alkyl halide. 

A common method for the preparation of alkyl cyanide 2 is the treatment of corresponding alkyl halides 1 with cyanide. The corresponding reaction with aromatic substrates is called the Rosenmund-von-Braun reaction. 

With alkali cyanides, a reaction via a SN2-mechanism takes place the alkyl halide is attacked by cyanide with the more nucleophilic carbon center rather than the nitrogen center, and the alkylnitrile is formed. In contrast, with silver cyanide the reaction proceeds by a SnI-mechanism, and an isonitrile is formed, since the carbenium intermediate reacts preferentially with the more electronegative center of the cyanide—i.e. the nitrogen (Kornblum s rule, HSAB concept). ... 

The reaction works well with primary alkyl halides, especially with allylic and benzylic halides, as well as other alkyl derivatives with good leaving groups. Secondary alkyl halides give poor yields. Tertiary alkyl halides react under the usual reaction conditions by elimination of HX only. Nitriles from tertiary alkyl halides can however be obtained by reaction with trimethylsilyl cyanide 4 ... 

Chain extension by means of the reaction of alkyl halides with cyanide is frequently alluded to but rarely employed, mainly because of the long reaction times and poor yields usually encountered. The use of DMSO as a solvent has greatly simplified the procedures and improved the yields of many ionic reactions, and the conversion of alkyl chlorides to nitriles is a good example. 

Carboxylic acids can be prepared from nitriles by reaction with hot aqueous acid or base by a mechanism that we ll see in Section 20.9. Since nitriles themselves are usually made by Sts 2 reaction of a primary or secondary7 alkyl halide with CN , the two-step sequence of cyanide displacement followed by nitiile hydrolysis is a good way to make a carboxylic acid from an alkyl halide (RBr —> RC=N RC02H). 

Nitriles are similar in some respects to carboxylic acids and are prepared either by SN2 reaction of an alkyl halide with cyanide ion or by dehydration of an amide. Nitriles undergo nucleophilic addition to the polar C=N bond in the same way that carbonyl compounds do. The most important reactions of nitriles are their hydrolysis to carboxylic acids, reduction to primary amines, and reaction with organometallic reagents to yield ketones. 

Silver cyanide, reaction with alkyl halides in synthesis of iso-cyamdes, 46, 77... 

Reaction between alkyl halides and cyanide ion Elimination of water from N-alkylformamides Reduction of isocyanates... 

These are readily available from the interaction of alkyl halides with sodium or potas slum cyanide in aqueous-alcoholic solution (compare Section 111,113). 

Many other examples of synthetic equivalent groups have been developed. For example, in Chapter 6 we discussed the use of diene and dienophiles with masked functionality in the Diels-Alder reaction. It should be recognized that there is no absolute difference between what is termed a reagent and a synthetic equivalent group. For example, we think of potassium cyanide as a reagent, but the cyanide ion is a nucleophilic equivalent of a carboxy group. This reactivity is evident in the classical preparation of carboxylic acids from alkyl halides via nitrile intermediates. 

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