title: Preparation of 5-substituted 1H-tetrazoles from nitriles in water.
abstract: The addition of sodium azide to nitriles to give 1H-tetrazoles is shown to proceed readily in water with zinc salts as catalysts. The scope of the reaction is quite broad; a variety of aromatic nitriles, activated and unactivated alkyl nitriles, substituted vinyl nitriles, thiocyanates, and cyanamides have all been shown to be viable substrates for this reaction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and The Skaggs Institute of Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.
authors.forename: Z P
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Demko
authors.forename: K B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Sharpless
mesh_terms: D007700:Kinetics; D009570:Nitriles / Q000737:chemistry*; D019810:Sodium Azide / Q000737:chemistry; D012997:Solvents; D013777:Tetrazoles / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D014867:Water; D015032:Zinc / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D009570:Nitriles; D012997:Solvents; D013777:Tetrazoles; D014867:Water; D019810:Sodium Azide; D015032:Zinc