Nitriles Beckman rearrangement

A large batch exploded violently (without flame) during vacuum distillation at 90-100°C/20-25 mbar. Since the distilled product contained up to 12% butyroni-trile, it was assumed that the the oxime had undergone the Beckman rearrangement to butyramide and then dehydrated to the nitrile. The release of water into a system at 120°C would generate excessive steam pressure which the process vessel could not withstand. The rearrangement may have been catalysed by metallic impurities [1]. This hypothesis was confirmed in a detailed study, which identified lead oxide and rust as active catalysts for the rearrangement and dehydration reactions [2],... 

Hydrolysis methods for mono[ C]nitriles and the spectrum of chemical transformations of the resulting [l- C]carboxylic acids differ little from those for their unlabeled counterparts, so that the synthesis of [l- C]tetralones 42 and [l- " C]indanones 46 from w-arylalkyl [ C]nitriles will suffice as examples (Figure 7.11). Acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of 4-phenylbutyro[ C]nitrile followed by polyphosphoric acid-mediated cyclization of the resulting phenyl[l- C]butanoic acid converted it into 42 in 89% radiochemical yield. Sequential bromination and oxime formation provided the a-bromooxime 43, which upon treatment with polyphosphoric acid underwent a Beckman rearrangement to provide the ring-expanded tetrahydro-2H-l-[2- C]benzazepine-2-one derivative 44- This was a key intermediate for the preparation of a series of labeled ACE inhibitors" . The acid-catalyzed cyclization of a mixture of 3-(2-hydroxyphenyl[l- " C]propionic acid and its ethyl ester, prepared by treatment of the propio[ " C]nitrile with ethanolic HCI proved to be a two-step sequence. In the first step, 2- [2- " C ]chromanone I4SI was formed and had to be submitted to... 

---