Halides, alkyl, reaction with cyanide

Preparation by way of the nitrile will not be feasible. Rather than react with sodium cyanide by substitution, ferf-butyl chloride will undergo elimination exclusively. The SN2 reaction with cyanide ion is limited to primary and secondary alkyl halides. 

The transformation of alkyl halides into alkanenitriles with cyanide ions has frequently been carried out in protic solvents such as methanol or ethanol, sometimes with the addition of water or acetone, and often at elevated temperatures. Under these conditions reaction rates decrease in the order iodides, bromides, chlorides, as would be expected. Accordingly iodide ions have a catalytic effect and increase reaction rates. The use of anhydrous ethylene glycol or di- and poly-ethylene glycols and their corresponding ethers allows the use of higher temperatures, which means better solubility of the alkali metal cyanides. There is probably additional help from the extensive solvation of the countercations by some of these hydroxy polyethers. While for primary halides yields for nitriles range up to 90% (Table 1), they drop sharply with secondary and tertiary halides. ... 

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. 

The thenyl cyanides are of great importance for the preparation of thiophene derivatives. Because of the acidifying effects of both the thienyl and of the cyano groups, carbanions are easily obtained through the reaction with sodamide or sodium ethoxide, which can be alkylated with halides, carbethoxylated with ethyl carbonate, or acylated by Claisen condensation with ethyl... 

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... 

The alkyl halides react with cyanide to produce alkyl cyanides. But this reaction has rarely been employed to obtain the increased length of the chain because of the long reaction times and poor yields. However, the use of DMSO as a solvent has simplified the procedure and improved the yields for the conversion of primary and secondary alkyl chlorides into cyanides, without any rearrangement. 

Substitution reactions of cyanide with secondary alkyl halides are often accompanied by the formation of elimination products in variable amounts (Cook et al., 1974). The same holds for reactions of metal acetate complexes of crown ethers (Liotta et al., 1974). 

Silicon tetraisothiocyanate, reaction with 2,6-dimethylaniline to yield 2,6-diraethylphenyl thiourea, 46, 70 Silver cyanide, reaction with alkyl halides in synthesis of isocyanides, 46, 77... 

Alkyl halides undergo Sn2 reactions with a variety of nucleophiles, e.g. metal hydroxides (NaOH or KOH), metal alkoxides (NaOR or KOR) or metal cyanides (NaCN or KCN), to produce alcohols, ethers or nitriles, respectively. They react with metal amides (NaNH2) or NH3, 1° amines and 2° amines to give 1°, 2° or 3° amines, respectively. Alkyl halides react with metal acetylides (R C=CNa), metal azides (NaN3) and metal carboxylate (R C02Na) to produce internal alkynes, azides and esters, respectively. Most of these transformations are limited to primary alkyl halides (see Section 5.5.2). Higher alkyl halides tend to react via elimination. 

We have already learnt that alkyl halides react with alcohols and metal hydroxide (NaOH or KOH) to give ethers and alcohols, respectively. Depending on the alkyl halides and the reaction conditions, both S l and Sn2 reactions can occur. Alkyl halides undergo a variety of transformation through Sn2 reactions with a wide range of nucleophiles (alkoxides, cyanides, acetylides, alkynides, amides and carboxylates) to produce other functional groups. 

Reactions at o -Position. Many studies have been concerned with the reactions of alkyl halides with cyanide in the presence of various metal ions, and with the direct alkylation of cyanide complexes. The classic synthesis of isonitriles was accomplished by the use of silver cyanide, whereas the corresponding reaction of organic halogen compounds with alkali cyanides yields nitriles (Equations 40 and 41) (34,36). 

The rate of alkylation in the above sequence is actually dependent on the rate of dissociation of the alkyl halide and the nucleophilicity of the cyanide complex (12). The most stable carbonium ion derived from the alkyl halides in the above sequence—i.e., having the highest rate of dissociation—is the triphenylmethyl-carbonium ion, which showed widely different rates of reaction with various cyanide complexes having widely different nucleophilicities toward crabon (18) ... 

While nitriles may be prepared by several methods, die reaction of alkyl halides with sodium cyanide to produce nitnles (eq, 1) is a general reaction with wide applicability ... 

Nitriles may be prepared by several methods (1). The first nitrile to be prepared was propionitrile, which was obtained in 1834 by distilling barium ethyl sulfate with potassium cyanide. This is a general preparation of nitriles from sulfonate salts and is referred to as the Pelouze reaction (2). Although not commonly practiced today, dehydration of amides has been widely used to produce nitriles and was the first commercial synthesis of a nitrile. The reaction of alkyl halides with sodium cyanide to produce nitriles (eq. 1) also is a general reaction with wide applicability ... 

Alkylation of the cyanide ligands in Ag4M(CN)8 with RX (X = halides) has provided the only route to the complexes M(CN)4(CNR)4 (M = Mo, W R = alkyl, allyl, CH2Ph, CPh3) (72, 73), as direct reaction of isocyanides on the cyanide anions has given only reduced products (74). 

---