2-(5-bromo-2-nitrophenyl)acetonitrile was used as starting material, which was dissolved in a solvent mixture of acetic acid (AcOH) and concentrated hydrochloric acid (HCl) (1:5, v/v), followed by the reaction under reflux conditions for 4 hours. Upon completion of the reaction, the reaction mixture was extracted using ethyl acetate, the organic phase was separated and dried with anhydrous sodium sulfate (Na2SO4), and finally the solvent was removed by rotary evaporator to obtain the target product 2-(5-bromo-2-nitrophenyl)acetic acid.
[1] Archiv der Pharmazie (Weinheim, Germany), 1989, vol. 322, p. 483 - 487
[2] Tetrahedron Letters, 2014, vol. 56, # 1, p. 89 - 94
