Malononitrile

Malononitrile

Malononitrile

Organic compound with formula CH2(CN)2


Malononitrile is an organic compound nitrile with the formula CH2(CN)2. It is a colorless or white solid, although aged samples appear yellow or even brown. It is a widely used building block in organic synthesis.

Quick Facts Names, Identifiers ...

Preparation and reactions

It can be prepared by dehydration of cyanoacetamide.[3] This method is mainly practiced in China where environmental rules are lax. Most commonly malononitrile is produced by the gas-phase reaction of acetonitrile and cyanogen chloride:[4]

NCCl + CH3CN → NCCH2CN + HCl

About 20,000,000 kg are produced annually (2007). Important outlets include the synthesis of thiamine, the drug triamterene and minoxidil, and the dyes disperse Yellow 90 and disperse Blue 354.[4]

Malononitrile is relatively acidic, with a pKa of 11 in water.[5] This allows it to be used in the Knoevenagel condensation, for example in the preparation of CS gas:

CS-chemical-synthesis

Malononitrile is a suitable starting material for the Gewald reaction, where the nitrile condenses with a ketone or aldehyde in the presence of elemental sulfur and a base to produce a 2-aminothiophene.[6]

See also


References

  1. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (2014). Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry: IUPAC Recommendations and Preferred Names 2013. The Royal Society of Chemistry. p. 902. doi:10.1039/9781849733069. ISBN 978-0-85404-182-4.
  2. NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards. "#0378". National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
  3. Surrey, Alexander (1945). "Malononitrile". Organic Syntheses. 25: 63–64. doi:10.15227/orgsyn.025.0063.
  4. Strittmatter, Harald; Hildbrand, Stefan; Pollak, Peter (2007). "Malonic Acid and Derivatives". Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. doi:10.1002/14356007.a16_063.pub2. ISBN 978-3527306732.
  5. Sabnis, R. W.; Rangnekar, D. W.; Sonawane, N. D. (1999). "2-Aminothiophenes By The Gewald Reaction". Journal of Heterocyclic Chemistry. 36 (2): 333–345. doi:10.1002/jhet.5570360203. Retrieved 2007-07-18.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Malononitrile, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.