Letts Nitrile Synthesis

E. A. Letts, Ber. 5, 669 (1872).

Formation of nitriles by heating aromatic carboxylic acids with metal thiocyanates:

G. Krüss, Ber. 17, 1766 (1884); E. E. Reid, Am. Chem. J. 43, 162 (1910); G. D. van Epps, E. E. Reid, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 38, 2120 (1916); D. T. Mowry, Chem. Rev. 42, 264 (1948); F. Klages, Lehrbuch der organischen Chemie I (Berlin, 1959) p 362.