Halides to nitriles

An improvement of the palladium-catalyzed cyanation of aryl bromides, in which zinc cyanide was used as the cyanide source, was reported in the middle of the nineties [49], Typically, the conversion from halide to nitrile takes at least 5 h by this route and the subsequent cycloaddition to the tetrazole is known to require even longer reaction times. 

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. 

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. 

In the course of this study, the authors determined /Lvalues for dibenzyl, methyl phenyl, methyl p-nitrophenyl, di-p-tolyl, di-isopropyl and tetramethylene sulphoxides and for diethyl, dipropyl and dibutyl sulphites. The /Lscales are applied to the various reactions or the spectral measurements. The /Lscales have been divided into either family-dependent (FD) types, which means two or more compounds can share the same /Lscale, family-independent (FI) types. Consequently, a variety of /Lscales are now available for various families of the bases, including 29 aldehydes and ketones, 17 carboxylic amides and ureas, 14 carboxylic acids esters, 4 acyl halides, 5 nitriles, 10 ethers, 16 phosphine oxides, 12 sulphinyl compounds, 15 pyridines and pyrimidines, 16 sp3 hybridized amines and 10 alcohols. The enthalpies of formation of the hydrogen bond of 4-fluorophenol with both sulphoxides and phosphine oxides and related derivatives fit the empirical equation 18, where the standard deviation is y = 0.983. Several averaged scales are shown in Table 1588. 

Derivatives of these acids formed by change in the carboxy group (salts, esters, lactones, acyl halides, amides, nitriles, etc.) are named according to 2-Carb-20.2. The anion takes the ending -uronate . Esters are also named using the ending -uronate . 

Treatment with alkaline H2O2 oxidizes trialkylboranes to esters of boric acid. This reaction does not affect double or triple bonds, aldehydes, ketones, halides, or nitriles. The R group does not rearrange, and this reaction is a step in the hydro-boration method of converting alkenes to alcohols (15-16). The mechanism has been formulated as involving a rearrangement from boron to oxygenr ... 

The reaction between aryl halides and cuprous cyanide is called the Rosenmund-von Braun reactionP Reactivity is in the order I > Br > Cl > F, indicating that the SnAt mechanism does not apply.Other cyanides (e.g., KCN and NaCN), do not react with aryl halides, even activated ones. However, alkali cyanides do convert aryl halides to nitrilesin dipolar aprotic solvents in the presence of Pd(II) salts or copper or nickel complexes. A nickel complex also catalyzes the reaction between aryl triflates and KCN to give aryl nitriles. Aromatic ethers ArOR have been photochemically converted to ArCN. 

Thallium(III), particularly as the trifluoroacetate salt, is also a reactive electrophilic metallating species, and a variety of synthetic schemes based on arylthallium intermediates have been devised.75 Arylthallium compounds are converted to chlorides or bromides by reaction with the appropriate cupric halide.76 Reaction with potassium iodide gives aryl iodides.77 Fluorides are prepared by successive treatment with potassium fluoride and boron trifluoride.78 Procedures for converting arylthallium compounds to nitriles and phenols have also been described.79... 

In the dehydration of primary aliphatic or aromatic amides to nitriles with CDI, the CDI is activated by an excess of a reactive halide, such as allyl bromide or benzyl bromide (2 equiv. of CDI, 8 equiv. of reactive halide, refluxing CH3CN, 2-5h) [12]... 

A technique has been recommended for converting furylcarbinols via halides into nitriles that dispenses with the need to isolate the intermediate... 

Aryl and vinyl nitriles have been prepared very efficiently from the corresponding bromides by palladium-catalyzed reactions under microwaves. This energy source has been employed for the conversion of these nitriles into aryl and vinyl tetrazoles by cycloaddition reactions with sodium azide (Scheme 9.66). The direct transformation of aryl halides to the aryl tetrazoles in a one pot procedure could be accomplished both in solution and on a solid support [115], The reactions were complete in a few minutes, a reaction time considerably shorter than those previously reported for the thermal reactions. The cydoadditions were performed with sodium azide and ammonium chloride in DMF and, although no explosion occurred in the development of this work, the authors point out the necessity of taking adequate precautions against this eventuality. 

The reaction of titanocene-alkylidenes generated from thioacetals with nitriles followed by hydrolysis affords ketones. Like the reaction of titanocene-methylidene, this reaction may proceed via the azatitanacydobutene 87 and/or the vinylimido complex 88, which reacts with an organic halide to form an a-substituted ketone [80] (Scheme 14.37). 

In addition, the mechanism of the zinc-catalyzed [3+2] dipolar cycloaddition of azides and nitriles to form tetrazoles was examined <2003JA9983>. The energy barrier of the reaction is lowered by 5-6kcalmol 1 which corresponds to an acceleration of 3 1 orders of magnitude. The source of the catalytic activity seems to be the coordination of the Lewis acidic zinc halide to the nitrile, which is supported by model calculations. Also AICI3 was examined as another Lewis acid which catalyzes the reaction to a greater extent than ZnBr2-... 

An interesting point can arise with Re(I) complexes (e.g., fac-Re+L(CO)3X where X is a halide, pyridine, nitrile, or isonitrile) where the n-n and MLCT states can be very nearly isoenergetic. This near-degeneracy allows the lowest state to be rather easily switched back and forth between n-n and MLCT by suitable choices of ligands and in some cases merely by altering the temperature 22 23 ... 

Chromium(II) sulfate is a versatile reagent for the mild reduction of a variety of bonds. Thus aqueous dimethylformamide solutions of this reagent at room temperature couple benzylic halides, reduce aliphatic monohalides to alkanes, convert vicinal dihalides to olefins, convert geminal halides to carben-oids, reduce acetylenes to /raw5-olefins, and reduce a,j3-unsatu-rated esters, acids, and nitriles to the corresponding saturated derivatives. These conditions also reduce aldehydes to alcohols. The reduction of diethyl fumarate described in this preparation illustrates the mildness of the reaction conditions for the reduction of acetylenes and o ,j8-unsaturated esters, acids, and nitriles. 

Cross coupling between an aryl halide and an activated alkyl halide, catalysed by the nickel system, is achieved by controlling the rate of addition of the alkyl halide to the reaction mixture. When the aryl halide is present in excess, it reacts preferentially with the Ni(o) intermediate whereas the Ni(l) intermediate reacts more rapidly with an activated alkyl halide. Thus continuous slow addition of the alkyl halide to the electrochemical cell already charged with the aryl halide ensures that the alkyl-aryl coupled compound becomes the major product. Activated alkyl halides include benzyl chloride, a-chloroketones, a-chloroesters and amides, a-chloro-nitriles and vinyl chlorides [202, 203, 204], Asymmetric induction during the coupling step occurs with over 90 % distereomeric excess from reactions with amides such as 62, derived from enantiomerically pure (-)-ephedrine, even when 62 is a mixture of diastereoisomcrs prepared from a racemic a-chloroacid. Metiha-nolysis of the amide product affords the chiral ester 63 and chiral ephedrine is recoverable [205]. 

A partial mechanism forthe conversion of an alkyl halide to a nitrile, which reacts to form a ketone with a Grignard reagent. 

This is a synthetically useful procedure because the a-halo acids are useful starting materials for other reactions. For example, the addition of hydroxide ion leads to the replacement of the halogen with an -OH group. The reaction with ammonia replaces the halogen with -NH2. The reaction with cyanide ion, CN , converts the halide to a nitrile. Figure 12-33 illustrates this reaction. 

Electrochemical oxidation of aldoximes using halide ions as mediators afforded the corresponding nitrile oxides in the anode compartment, which were simultaneously reduced to nitriles by cathodic reduction (equation 15). Sodium chloride affords the best result among the supporting electrolytes (Cl > Br > 1 > C104 > TsO ). Accordingly, the electrochemical reaction of oximes carried out in the presence of dipolephiles yielded isooxazolines (equation 16). 

Furazan- and furoxan-carboxylic acids are thermally and hydrolytically unstable decomposing to a-(hydroxyimino)nitriles, but their amide, ester, halide, and nitrile derivatives are readily accessible and all undergo the expected functional group interconversions. Dicyanofuroxan reacts with hydroxylamine to give the fused oxazino compound (63) and the pyridazino analogue (64) is similarly formed with hydrazine <82H(19)1063>. 

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