<P>The authors have found that the reported procedure for the conversion of
aromatic aldehydes into nitriles leads to poorly reproducible results. The new procedure involves the
utilization of DMF as solvent and 4 equivalents of NaI at reflux. The general method
for conversion of aromatic aldehydes and the corrected yields of the obtained nitriles
follow.</P><P>General Procedure for the One-Pot Preparation of Aryl Nitriles</P><P>To
a stirred heterogeneous mixture of NH
2OH·HCl (1.3 mmol) and NaI (4 mmol) in DMF (4 mL), aldehyde
1 (1 mmol) was added at room temperature. The reaction mixture was refluxed for 6 h,
then was allowed to cool and was poured into cold 1N HCl (10 mL). After extraction
with Et
2O (3 ¥ 10 mL), the combined organic layers were dried (Na
2SO
4), filtered, and concentrated under vacuum. The crude nitrile was purified by flash
chromatography to give the pure compound
2.
[
]
</P>
