Glutaronitrile

For determination of substrate specificity, several nitriles belonging to different classes were tested: acetonitrile (simple aliphatic nitrile), glutaronitrile, succinonitrile (aliphatic dinitriles), mandelonitrile (arylacetonitrile) and benzonitrile (aromatic nitrile) (Sigma-Aldrich). In addition, acetamide and benzamide (Sigma-Aldrich) were used for the detection of possible amidase activity.

Methanol (Sigma–Aldrich) was distilled from CaH₂ under N₂ and used immediately. Succino­nitrile and glutaro­nitrile were purchased from Sigma–Aldrich and used as received. Inhibitor-free anhydrous diethyl ether was purchased from Sigma–Aldrich and used as received. All deuterated solvents were purchased from Sigma–Aldrich, used as received, and stored long term in air. Unless otherwise noted, all mani­pulations were performed in air. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry was performed with a Thermo Q Exactive Plus mass spectrometer. IR spectra were recorded with a Bruker Tenser 27 spectrometer using an ATR adapter. ¹H NMR spectra were recorded on a 400 MHz Bruker Avance III spectrometer. Caution! The synthetic procedures for the preparation of 1 and 2 involve heating a sealed reaction vessel and should only be performed at or below the scale described here using rated thick-walled glassware, with a protective blast shield.