General procedure for the synthesis of m-fluorophenylacetonitrile from compound (CAS: 773837-37-9) and 3-fluorobenzyl bromide: Compound 36-1 (1.0 g, 5.3 mmol) and sodium cyanide (520 mg, 10.6 mmol) were dissolved in dimethylsulfoxide (10 mL), and the reaction was stirred at 30 °C overnight. The progress of the reaction was monitored by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and after confirming the completion of the reaction, the reaction mixture was diluted with water (30 mL) and extracted with ethyl acetate (50 mL). The organic phase was washed sequentially with water (10 mL x 5) and saturated sodium bicarbonate solution (20 mL), dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate and concentrated. The residue was purified by fast column chromatography to give product 36-2 as a colorless oil (360 mg, yield: 50%).
