Liu Liwen, Liu Yu, Shen Xue, Zhang Xiao, Deng Shengqi, Chen Yang
Antibiotics Research and Re-evaluation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Industrial Institute of Antibiotics, School of Pharmacy, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China.
J Org Chem. 2022 May 6;87(9):6321-6329. doi: 10.1021/acs.joc.1c02835. Epub 2022 Apr 8.
A simple, mild, catalyst-free, and efficacious KOBu-mediated reductive cyanation reaction of tertiary amides under hydrosilylation conditions has been described. A series of α-aminonitriles is obtained in moderate to high yield with good functional group tolerance. The reaction works well with a readily available amide substrate, a cheap and versatile base KOBu, and a commercially available hydrosilane (EtO)SiH and is convenient for workup and purification.