Von Richter reaction

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The von Richter reaction, also named von Richter rearrangement, is a name reaction in the
organic chemistry. It is named after Victor von Richter, who discovered this reaction in year 1871. It
is the reaction of aromatic nitro compounds with potassium cyanide in aqueous ethanol to give the
product of cine substitution (ring substitution resulting in the entering group positioned adjacent to
the previous location of the leaving group) by a carboxyl group.[1][2][3] Although it is not generally
synthetically useful due to the low chemical yield and formation of numerous side products, its
mechanism was of considerable interest, eluding chemists for almost 100 years before the currently
accepted one was proposed.

General Reaction Scheme[edit]

The reaction below shows the classic example of the conversion of p-bromonitrobenzene into m-
bromobenzoic acid.[4]

The reaction is a type of nucleophilic aromatic substitution.[4] Besides the bromo derivative, chlorine-
and iodine-substituted nitroarenes, as well as more highly substituted derivatives, could also be used
as substrates of this reaction. However, yields are generally poor to moderate, with reported
percentage yields ranging from 1% to 50%.[5][6]