Formyl cyanide : a stable species. Experimental and theoretical studies

Formyl cyanide has been generated by the retro-ene cleavage of cinnamyloxyacetonitrile using flash vacuum pyrolysis. Isolation of pure formyl cyanide in the gas phase has shown that the compoundis much more stable than originally reported, with a measured half-life of 45.5 h under our experimental conditions. Formyl cyanide readily reacts with water to form hydrogen cyanide and formic acid. The observed vibrational frequencies are compared with the results of high-level ab initio calculations. Ab initio calculations are also reported for the transition state and the intrinsic reaction pathway of formyl cyanide into the products HCN and CO