General procedure for the synthesis of 2-cyanopropionic acid from ethyl 2-cyanopropionate: ethyl 2-cyanopropionate (1.0 g, 7.87 mmol), methanol (4 mL), and water (4 mL) were added to a reaction flask. After cooling the reaction mixture to 0°C, potassium hydroxide (882 mg, 16 mmol) was slowly added. Subsequently, the reaction system was warmed to 40 °C with continuous stirring for 2 hours. Upon completion of the reaction, methanol was removed by concentration under reduced pressure and the pH was adjusted to 5 with 1 N hydrochloric acid. extraction was carried out with ethyl acetate (50 mL x 2) and the organic phases were combined. The organic phase was washed with saturated brine, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered and concentrated under reduced pressure to give 2-cyanopropionic acid (660 mg, 85% yield) as a purple oil. The product was characterized by 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6): δ 13.59 (br, 1H), 4.03 (q, J=7.2 Hz, 1H), 1.41 (d, J=7.2 Hz, 3H).
