Addition Reactions or Diethyl 2,4-dicyanoglutaconate

Abstract

For many years, acrylonitrile has afforded the organic chemist a convenient method of introducing a three-carbon residue onto a variety of organic compounds by the so-called cyano-ethylation reaction. This reaction is generally brought about by a base-catalyzed, nucleophilic addition. The purpose of this work is to investigate and to evaluate the applicability of the readily-available diethyl 2,4-dicyanoglutaconate in a similar type of reaction. Such a reaction, if feasible, would permit the introduction of a seven-carbon residue which possesses reactive terminal functional groups. This would be of great value in synthetic organic chemistry.