Chemical properties of nitrile structure

Nitrile can be regarded as a compound in which hydrogen atoms of HCN are replaced by hydrocarbon groups. Certain advanced nitriles are found in plant essential oils, for example, phenylacetonitrile is found in lonica, bitter orange, and convallaria oil, phenylpropionitrile is found in watercremustard, and vinyl acetonitrile is also found in a variety of plants.
The simplest nitrile is acetonitrile, which can be miscible with water, propionitrile is also very soluble in water, and advanced nitrile is generally only slightly soluble in water. The lower nitrile is mostly colorless liquid, and the nitrile above C14 is mostly crystalline solid. Nitrile's boiling point is generally slightly higher than that of the corresponding fatty acid. Nitrile has an aromatic odor and is generally stable.
Nitrile can carry out two kinds of reactions: (1) the reaction on the nitrile group, such as hydrolysis to amide or carboxylic acid in acid or alkaline solution, addition with Grignard reagent, hydrolysis to ketone, reduction to primary amine, etc.; The reaction of alpha active hydrogen, such as alkyl substitution under alkali action (see substitution reaction), or condensation with carbonyl compounds (see condensation reaction).