gsd - 29-11-2015 at 04:05
Since I am not a chemist and have no theoretical grounding in Organic Chemistry, can some body explain me whether following reaction is possible and
if not then why not.
Alkyl Chloride + Acetonitrile ---> Alkyl Nitile + Methyl Chloride
eg.:
C4H9Cl + CH3CN ---> C4H9CN + CH3Cl
N-Butyl Chloride+Acetonitrile-->Valeronitrile + Methyl Chloride
If the reaction is reversible then it will be driven towards right as Methyl Chloride will escape from the reaction mixture. (BP = -24 Deg C)
Gsd
UC235 - 29-11-2015 at 08:18
No, these will definitely not occur at all. Acetonitrile is not a cyanide salt, which is what you seem to be treating it as. The covalent bond is not
susceptible to cleavage. You might be able to get the ritter reaction to work with added lewis acid catalyst, but that is a wholly different mechanism
and product.
deltaH - 29-11-2015 at 09:19
What UC235 said, but out of interest, there's a different nitrile metathesis that can proceed with a special catalyst, it's called
Nitrile-Alkyne Cross-Metathesis. It re-arranges two nitriles forming a daughter alkyne and N2 gas, i.e. R-CN + R'-CN => R-C≡C-R' + N2. 
DrMethyl - 2-12-2015 at 10:52
Nitrile methathesis ??!! wouah never heard of that !! Alkyne methathesis ok with strange tungsten triple-bond catalyst but with two nitrile releaseing
molecular nitrogen wouah! Everytime I read organic chemistry I learn new things 