Facile Hydration of Nitriles to Amides Using Potassium Fluoride on Alumina

The selective hydration of nitriles to yield anides is a synthetically useful reaction 1 . This transformation has been brought about by varius reagents like, for example, mineral acids 2 , hydrogen halides in alcohols 3 , alkaline hydrogen peroxide 4 , alkaline hydrogen peroxide under phase transfer conditions 5 , sodium super-oxide in DMSO 6 , basic anion exchange resins 7 manganese dioxide 8 , and complexes containing transition metals 9 and noble metals 10 .