For instance, nitriles can be obtained by a direct dehydration of primary amides RCONH2, and vice versa, primary amides — by an addition of water to nitriles. Conversions of nitriles to N-substituted secondary or tertiary amides are also quite practical, although they often require more than one chemical step.
Advances in the Chemistry of Nitriles and Amides
Dec 25th, 2008