Grignard reagents nitrile synthesis

Among the methods for preparing carboxylic acids carboxylation of a Grignard reagent and preparation and hydrolysis of a nitrile convert RBr to RCO2H The malonic ester synthesis converts RBr to RCH2CO2H... 

Craig s synthesis of nicotine (V to VII, p. 42) proceeds via nomicotine. Nicotinic acid nitrile reacts with the Grignard reagent derived from ethyl y-bromopropyl ether to give 3-pyridyl-y-ethoxypropyl ketone (V). This yields an oily oxime (VI) reducible to a-(3-pyridyl)-a-amino-8-ethoxy-w-butane (VII), which with 48 per cent, hydrobromic acid at 130-3° gives womicotine, and this on methylation yields dZ-nicotine. 

Methods of synthesis for carboxylic acids include (1) oxidation of alkyl-benzenes, (2) oxidative cleavage of alkenes, (3) oxidation of primary alcohols or aldehydes, (4) hydrolysis of nitriles, and (5) reaction of Grignard reagents with CO2 (carboxylation). General reactions of carboxylic acids include (1) loss of the acidic proton, (2) nucleophilic acyl substitution at the carbonyl group, (3) substitution on the a carbon, and (4) reduction. 

The addition of Grignard reagents to aldehydes, ketones, and esters is the basis for the synthesis of a wide variety of alcohols, and several examples are given in Scheme 7.3. Primary alcohols can be made from formaldehyde (Entry 1) or, with addition of two carbons, from ethylene oxide (Entry 2). Secondary alcohols are obtained from aldehydes (Entries 3 to 6) or formate esters (Entry 7). Tertiary alcohols can be made from esters (Entries 8 and 9) or ketones (Entry 10). Lactones give diols (Entry 11). Aldehydes can be prepared from trialkyl orthoformate esters (Entries 12 and 13). Ketones can be made from nitriles (Entries 14 and 15), pyridine-2-thiol esters (Entry 16), N-methoxy-A-methyl carboxamides (Entries 17 and 18), or anhydrides (Entry 19). Carboxylic acids are available by reaction with C02 (Entries 20 to 22). Amines can be prepared from imines (Entry 23). Two-step procedures that involve formation and dehydration of alcohols provide routes to certain alkenes (Entries 24 and 25). 

The use of the y-(trimethylsiloxy)nitrile derivatives (190) as a route to 1,4-bifunctional units is exemplified in a convenient synthesis of jasmonoid compounds. The addition of the Grignard reagent to the cyano group as the homologation step results in the keto alcohol (191) after subsequent hydration. The y-ketocarboxylic add (192) obtained from the... 

A more reactive equivalent for ketone synthesis is a nitrile 28. Addition of a Grignard reagent gives an intermediate 29, stable under the reaction conditions, rather like 21. Hydrolysis in acid solution releases the ketone 2. The exactly analogous reagent to DMF would be a tertiary amide... 

The starting material is obviously available by a Friedel-Crafts acylation of chlorobenzene and the rest of the synthesis follows. Note that the nitrile can be converted directly into the ester with acidic ethanol and that an excess of Grignard reagent is needed because the free OH group destroys some of it. 

The Fischer indole synthesis has also been employed. The nitrile (XXXVIII) reacts with the Grignard reagent prepared from y-ethoxy-propyl bromide to give an intermediate (XXXIX) which in the presence of acid generates the cyclic ketone XL. The phenylhydrazone of the last can be cyclized to sempervirine (XXXV) (24). 

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