Cyanide anion basicity

A second separation technique is leaching, which uses solubility properties to separate the components of an ore. For example, modem gold production depends on the extraction of tiny particles of gold from gold-bearing rock deposits. After the rock is crushed, it is treated with an aerated aqueous basic solution of sodium cyanide. Molecular oxygen oxidizes the metal, which forms a soluble coordination complex with the cyanide anion ... 

For the reaction-based sensing of anions, the most considerable success has been reached in cyanide sensing, basically due to the necessity for assessing this toxic species and because it can be easily addressed in water due to its high nucleophi-licity. For instance, the coumarin derivative 50 shows a dramatic fluorescence increase after cyanide-induced cyanohydrin reaction (Fig. 19), no response to... 

The phase-transfer catalysed reaction of nickel tetracarbonyl with sodium hydroxide under carbon monoxide produces the nickel carbonyl dianions, Ni,(CO) 2- and Ni6(CO)162, which convert allyl chloride into a mixture of but-3-enoic and but-2-enoic acids [18]. However, in view of the high toxicity of the volatile nickel tetracarbonyl, the use of the nickel cyanide as a precursor for the carbonyl complexes is preferred. Pretreatment of the cyanide with carbon monoxide under basic conditions is thought to produce the tricarbonylnickel cyanide anion [19], as the active metal catalyst. Reaction with allyl halides, in a manner analogous to that outlined for the preparation of the arylacetic acids, produces the butenoic acids (Table 8.7). 

The second example is the familiar one of cyanohydrin formation from a ketone. The reaction is indeed reversible but in basic solution the cyanide anion is more stable than the oxyanion in the product and the carbonyl group is very stable too. In acidic solution (at pHs less than about 12) the oxyanion will be protonated and the reaction driven over to the right. 

The mechanism of the Strecker reaction has received considerable attention over its lifespan.4 The conversion of a carbonyl compound into an a-amino acid, by this method, requires a two-step process. The first step consists of the three-component condensation of cyanide and ammonia with the carbonyl compound 1 to produce an intermediate, a-aminonitrile 3. The second step involves the hydrolysis of the nitrile functional group to reveal the latent carboxylic acid 4. Whereas the second step is fairly straightforward and can be done under basic or acid conditions, the first step is more involved than one may expect. The widely accepted sequence for the first step is the nucleophilic addition of ammonia to the carbonyl carbon to produce the corresponding imine derivative 2. Once formed, this initial species is captured by the cyanide anion to generate the requisite a-aminonitrile 3. 

The carbon of the cyanide anion is the stronger nucleophile because It is more basic. 

Substitution and Addition Reactions. All types of reactions between inorganic anions and organic partners can be executed under the PTC conditions. Nucleophilic aliphatic substitution in alkyl halides with cyanide anions to form nitriles was presented in the Introduction as a typical example of PTC on which the basic principles and characteristic features of this catalysis were discussed. 

The cyanide anion is a nucleophile and, when attached to a carbon atom, undergoes hydrolysis under basic conditions to the carboxylate anion. Suggest a method of preparing sodium butanoate from chloropropane. How can sodium butanoate be converted into butanoic add ... 

Ion exchange, in which cation and/or anion resins are used to replace undesirable anionic species in liquid solutions with nonhazardous ions. For example, cation-exchange resins may contain nonhazardous, mobile, positive ions (e g., sodium, hydrogen) which are attached to immobile acid groups (e.g., sulfonic or carboxylic). Similarly, anion-exchange resins may include nonhazardous, mobile, negative ions (e.g., hydroxyl or chloride) attached to immobile basic ions (e.g., amine). These resins can be used to eliminate various species from wastewater, such as dissolved metals, sulfides, cyanides, amines, phenols, and halides. 

Complexes 79 show several types of chemical reactions (87CCR229). Nucleophilic addition may proceed at the C2 and S atoms. In excess potassium cyanide, 79 (R = R = R" = R = H) forms mainly the allyl sulfide complex 82 (R = H, Nu = CN) (84JA2901). The reaction of sodium methylate, phenyl-, and 2-thienyllithium with 79 (R = R = r" = R = H) follows the same route. The fragment consisting of three coplanar carbon atoms is described as the allyl system over which the Tr-electron density is delocalized. The sulfur atom may participate in delocalization to some extent. Complex 82 (R = H, Nu = CN) may be proto-nated by hydrochloric acid to yield the product where the 2-cyanothiophene has been converted into 2,3-dihydro-2-cyanothiophene. The initial thiophene complex 79 (R = R = r" = R = H) reacts reversibly with tri-n-butylphosphine followed by the formation of 82 [R = H, Nu = P(n-Bu)3]. Less basic phosphines, such as methyldiphenylphosphine, add with much greater difficulty. The reaction of 79 (r2 = r3 = r4 = r5 = h) with the hydride anion [BH4, HFe(CO)4, HW(CO)J] followed by the formation of 82 (R = Nu, H) has also been studied in detail. When the hydride anion originates from HFe(CO)4, the process is complicated by the formation of side products 83 and 84. The 2-methylthiophene complex 79... 

The initiating nucleophile in the vast majority of these studies is the hydroxide anion. However, in principle, any nucleophile can add to the keto or formyl group to give rise to an anionic intermediate, which then could act as an intramolecular nucleophile and effect hydrolysis of the ester. Their relative effectiveness will depend on two factors the relative extent of formation and the nucleophilicity of the adduct. The nucleophiles that have been investigated are hydroxide, cyanide, morpholine and piperazine. The only quantitative comparison available is that of hydroxide, morpholine and piperazine, which are effective in the order of ca. 102 10-3 1 (Bender et al., 1965 Dahlgren and Schell, 1967). For morpholine and piperazine this is as expected on the basis of their relative basicities. However, the expected order of increasing formation of the adducts would be cyanide > nitrogen bases > hydroxide (Hine, 1971). At this time, these results cannot be analysed further, but more work on the systems could enable the structural dependence and reactivity to be elucidated. 

However, cyanide ion is not suitable for inducing a benzoin-type condensation between two aliphatic aldehydes, since the basic character of this ion induces an aldol condensation between them. In Nature, nevertheless, condensations of this type take place easily. As Breslow proposed in 1958 [8], such condensations are catalysed by thiamine pyrophosphate 6 (or cocarboxylase), the active part of which is the conjugate base of the "thiazolium cation present in it. According to Breslow [8a], the mechanism is, in fact, identical to that described for the cyanide ion (see Scheme 5.7) that is to say, the conjugate base of thiamine (TPP ) reacts with an "aldehyde equivalent -such as an a-ketoacid 2- to generate the corresponding "active aldehyde" 8 with umpoled reactivity, which then reacts with the electrophile to give finally, after elimination of "thiamine anion", a 1,2-D system (9). 

A variety of basic (nucleophilic) initiators have been used to initiate anionic polymerization [Bywater, 1975, 1976, 1985 Fontanille, 1989 Hsieh and Quirk, 1996 Morton, 1983 Morton and Fetters, 1977 Quirk, 1995, 1998, 2002 Richards, 1979 Szwarc, 1983 Young et al., 1984]. These include covalent or ionic metal amides such as NaNFU and LiN(C2H5)2, alkoxides, hydroxides, cyanides, phosphines, amines, and organometallic compounds such as n-C4H9Li and <)>MgBr. Initiation involves the addition to monomer of a nucleophile (base), either a neutral (B ) or negative (B ) species. 

Tertiary benzylic nitriles are useful synthetic intermediates, and have been used for the preparation of amidines, lactones, primary amines, pyridines, aldehydes, carboxylic acids, and esters. The general synthetic pathway to this class of compounds relies on the displacement of an activated benzylic alcohol or benzylic halide with a cyanide source followed by double alkylation under basic conditions. For instance, 2-(2-methoxyphenyl)-2-methylpropionitrile has been prepared by methylation of (2-methoxyphenyl)acetonitrile using sodium amide and iodomethane. In the course of the preparation of a drug candidate, the submitters discovered that the nucleophilic aromatic substitution of aryl fluorides with the anion of a secondary nitrile is an effective method for the preparation of these compounds. The reaction was studied using isobutyronitrile and 2-fluoroanisole. The submitters first showed that KHMDS was the superior base for the process when carried out in either THF or toluene (Table I). For example, they found that the preparation of 2-(2-methoxyphenyl)-2-methylpropionitrile could be accomplished h... 

Cadmium hydroxide is more basic than zinc hydroxide. It forms anionic complex Cd(OH)42 when treated with concentrated caustic soda solution. It forms complexes with cyanide, thiocyanate and ammonium ions when added to the solutions of these ions. 

The anion then adds to the carbonyl group of a second molecule of ethanal in a manner analogous to the addition of other nucleophiles to carbonyl groups (e.g., cyanide ion, Section 16-4A). The adduct so formed, 8, rapidly adds a proton to the alkoxide oxygen to form the aldol, 3-hydroxybutanal. This last step regenerates the basic catalyst, OH ... 

The chromous salts, derived from the oxide CrO, arc analogous to the salts of divalent vanadium, manganese, and iron. This is seen in the isomorphism of the sulphates of the type R" SOj-THgO. The stability of such salts increases in the order of the atomic number of the metal. The chief basic oxide of chromium is the sesquioxidc CraO, which is closely allied to ferric oxide, and, like the latter, resembles aluminium oxide. The hydroxide, Cr(OH)3, with bases yields chromites analogous to, but less stable than, the aluminates. Chromic sulphate enters into the formation of alums. The chromic salts are very stable, but in the trivaJent condition the metal shows a marked tendency to form complex ions, both anions and cations thus it resembles iron in producing complex cyanides, whilst it also yields compounds similar to the cobaltamines. 

The alkylation chemistry of a considerable number of O-trimethylsilyl cyanohydrins derived from aryl and heteroaryl aldehydes has been reported by Hunig and coworkers. Tbe protected cyanohydrins are easily prepared by heating the aldehydes with trimethylsilyl cyanide in the presence of a Lewis acid. The use of dialkyl sulfates and tosylates as alkylating agents was so reported. Hata et alP failed to alkylate the anion of the adduct of trimethylsilyl cyanide and acetaldehyde, suggesting that the trimethylsilyl group is incompatible with the more basic anions derived from aliphatic aldehydes. Ficini et alP... 

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