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Stephen aldehyde synthesis, a named reaction in chemistry, was invented by Henry Stephen (OBE/MBE). This reaction involves the preparation of aldehydes (R-CHO) from nitriles (R-CN) using tin(II) chloride (SnCl2), hydrochloric acid (HCl) and quenching the resulting iminium salt ([R-CH=NH2]+Cl−) with water (H2O). During the synthesis, ammonium chloride is also produced.
Overall, the reaction scheme is as follows:
Sonn-Müller method
In the Sonn-Müller method the intermediate iminium salt is obtained from reaction of an amide PhCONHPh with phosphorus pentachloride.
References
Stephen aldehyde synthesis Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA