18495-14-2

84159-60-4

18495-14-2

2-Hydroxy-4-methylbenzaldehyde oxime (23 g) was added to 190 mL of acetic anhydride. The reaction mixture was heated to reflux for 2 hours. After completion of the reaction, the mixture was concentrated and the residue was poured into ice water. The aqueous phase was extracted with ethyl acetate and the organic phase was combined. The organic phase was dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, concentrated, and separated and purified by silica gel column chromatography to finally obtain 2-hydroxy-4-methylbenzonitrile (16 g).