Potassium on Alumina as a Reagent for Reductive Decyanation of Alkylnitriles.

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/jo01304a016

Highly dispersed potassium over neutral alumina (K/Al2O3), easily prepared by melting potassium over alumina in an inert atmosphere, is capable of effecting reductive cleavage of the cyano group in alkylnitriles in hexane at room temperature in 70-91percent yield.This decyanation method is applied in the key step of a novel synthesis of (Z)-9-dodecen-1-yl acetate, the sex pheromone of Paralobesia viteana.