CHEMISTRY GUIDE

HYDROLYSING NITRILES This page looks at the hydrolysis of nitriles under either acidic or alkaline conditions to make carboxylic acids or their salts. The hydrolysis of nitriles Introduction When nitriles are hydrolysed you can think of them reacting with water in two stages - first to produce an amide, and then the ammonium salt of a carboxylic acid. For example, ethanenitrile would end up as ammonium ethanoate going via ethanamide. In practice, the reaction between nitriles and water would be so slow as to be completely negligible. The nitrile is instead heated with either a dilute acid such as dilute hydrochloric acid, or with an alkali such as sodium hydroxide solution. The end result is similar in all the cases, but the exact nature of the final product varies depending on the conditions you use for the reaction. Acidic hydrolysis of nitriles The nitrile is heated under reflux with dilute hydrochloric...