The general procedure for the synthesis of 1-(4-nitrophenyl)-cyclopropanecarboxylic acid was as follows: 1-(4-nitrophenyl)cyclopropanecarbonitrile (12.77 g, 67.16 mmol) was placed in a 250 mL three-necked round-bottomed flask and water (79 mL) and concentrated sulfuric acid (56 mL) were added. The reaction mixture was heated to reflux overnight and the reaction progress was monitored by thin layer chromatography (TLC) (Spreading agent: 100% ethyl acetate, product Rf value 0.49). After completion of the reaction, the reaction mixture was cooled and the precipitate was collected by filtration. The resulting solid was washed with distilled water (30 mL) and subsequently dried under vacuum overnight to afford the target product 1-(4-nitrophenyl)-cyclopropanecarboxylic acid (8.67 g, 41.45 mmol, 62% yield). The structure of the product was confirmed by 1H-NMR (DMSO-d6): δ 8.21-8.11 (d, 2H), 7.58-7.64 (d, 2H), 1.5-1.6 (t, 2H), 1.2-1.3 (t, 2H).
