Chapter 10, Problem 10.52P

Alcohols are important for organic synthesis, especially in situations involving alkenes. The alcohol might be the desired product, or the OH group might be transformed into another functional group via halogenation, oxidation, or perhaps conversion to a sulfonic ester derivative. Formation of an alcohol from an alkene is particularly powerful because conditions can be chosen to produce either the Markovnikov or non-Markovnikov product from an unsymmetrical alkene.

Using your reaction roadmap as a guide, show how to convert 4-methyl-1-pentene into 5-methylhexanenitrile. You must use 4-methyl-1-pentene and sodium cyanide as the source of all carbon atoms in the target molecule. Show all reagents needed and all molecules synthesized along the way.