Understanding the Stephen Reaction Mechanism
Asked by Anjali Mehta · 2 years ago
Can someone explain the mechanism of the Stephen reaction? I am finding it difficult to understand the steps involved.
1 Answer
The Stephen reaction is a chemical reaction that reduces nitriles to aldehydes using stannous chloride (SnCl2) and hydrogen chloride (HCl). Here is a simplified mechanism:
- The nitrile (R-C≡N) reacts with stannous chloride (SnCl2) and HCl to form an iminium ion (R-CH=NH2+).
- This iminium ion is then hydrolyzed in the presence of water to form an aldehyde (R-CHO) and ammonium chloride (NH4Cl).
So, the overall reaction can be summarized as:
R-C≡N + 2H2 → R-CHO + NH3
NEET Faculty · 2 years ago
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