Reagents aromaticity and

Thallium(I) cyanide was introduced by Taylor and McKillop as a reagent. Aromatic and heteroaromatic acyl cyanides are produced in go yield, whereas aliphatic acid halides lead under these conditions mainly to dimerization products. 18-Crown-6 is a good catalyst for the preparation of cyanoformate in methylene chloride with potassium cyanide and chloroformates. Similarly, tetraethylammonium cyanide gives cyanoformates in high yield under very mild conditions. Aroyl cyanides are generated easily by phase transfer catalysis with tetra-n-butylammonium bromide. Tri- -butyltin cyanide proved successful only with aromatic acid halides, leading to dimerization products with aliphatic compounds. ... 

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