Red light excitation: illuminating photocatalysis in a new spectrum

• Lucas Fortier,
• Corentin Lefebvre and
• Norbert Hoffmann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 296–326, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.22

• form the desired α-aminonitrile (Scheme 8). Notably, the authors have optimized the reaction conditions to achieve high yields across a wide substrate scope with more than 15 examples, including the cyanation of aliphatic amines such as tributylamine and sterically hindered substrates, which

Streamlined modular synthesis of saframycin substructure via copper-catalyzed three-component assembly and gold-promoted 6-endo cyclization

• Asahi Kanno,
• Ryo Tanifuji,
• Satoshi Yoshida,
• Sota Sato,
• Saori Maki-Yonekura,
• Kiyofumi Takaba,
• Jungmin Kang,
• Kensuke Tono,
• Koji Yonekura and
• Hiroki Oguri

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 226–233, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.14

• structure of 16 was confirmed by serial X-ray crystallography using an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) [deposition number CCDC 2352718) [54][55]. We then performed a Strecker-type reaction on the aldehyde 16 to construct an α-aminonitrile 17. To our delight, the key intermediate, 2,3-diaminobenzofuran 11

Recent advances and perspectives in ruthenium-catalyzed cyanation reactions

• Thaipparambil Aneeja,
• Cheriya Mukkolakkal Abdulla Afsina,
• Padinjare Veetil Saranya and
• Gopinathan Anilkumar

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 37–52, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.4

• -immobilized ruthenium trichloride to catalyze the oxidative cyanation of tertiary amines [28]. The reaction was performed using 2 mol % of catalyst, 2.5 mmol H2O2, 1.2 mmol NaCN, and 1 mL CH3COOH in methanol at room temperature (Scheme 1). Better yields of the α-aminonitrile products were obtained for

CF₃-substituted carbocations: underexploited intermediates with great potential in modern synthetic chemistry

• Anthony J. Fernandes,
• Armen Panossian,
• Bastien Michelet,
• Agnès Martin-Mingot,
• Frédéric R. Leroux and
• Sébastien Thibaudeau

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 343–378, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.32

• can be trapped by TMSCN to furnish α-(trifluoromethyl)-α-aminonitrile 183 in 40% yield. The iminium was also successfully trapped by a silyl enol ether, affording a mixture of ketone 184 and heterocycle 185 (Scheme 44). The trifluoromethyl-substituted derivatives 186a–c have then been exploited as a

Ultrasound-assisted Strecker synthesis of novel 2-(hetero)aryl-2-(arylamino)acetonitrile derivatives

• Emese Gal,
• Luiza Gaina,
• Hermina Petkes,
• Alexandra Pop,
• Castelia Cristea,
• Gabriel Barta,
• Dan Cristian Vodnar and
• Luminiţa Silaghi-Dumitrescu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2929–2936, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.242

• ] appeared improved under ultrasound-assisted conditions, which also enhanced the yields of the final α-aminonitrile derivatives. The Strecker reaction of cyclopropanone acetal substrates with sodium cyanide and several amines was also facilitated by sonication conditions which afforded cleaner N-alkylated α

• friendly procedures for the synthesis of new phenothiazine and ferrocene derivatives [23][24][25][26][27] and perceiving the importance of α-aminoacetonitrile derivatives as pharmaceutical and agrochemical intermediates with a great number of α-aminonitrile derivatives which were proved to have remarkable

The reductive decyanation reaction: an overview and recent developments

• Jean-Marc R. Mattalia

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 267–284, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.30

• advantages of the nitrile functional group before its removal. Mechanistic details and applications to organic synthesis are provided. Keywords: α-aminonitrile; decyanation; electron donor; hydride; malononitrile; transition metal catalysis; Introduction Many strategies in organic synthesis involve the

• decyanation reaction depends on the structure of the α-aminonitrile, stereoelectronic effects and internal strain of the molecule [68]. Chuang et al. prepared a set of α-aminoacrylonitriles 11 by a cyano-promoted aza-Diels–Alder cycloaddition [71]. The cyano groups were then removed in high yields by

• treatment with NaBH4 in 2-propanol by using both basic and nucleophilic properties of the hydride ion. The proposed mechanism involves a double-bond isomerization to the α-aminonitrile intermediate which is then reduced by the hydride ion in a classical way (Scheme 7). Interestingly, deuterium-labelling

Application of cyclic phosphonamide reagents in the total synthesis of natural products and biologically active molecules

• Thilo Focken and
• Stephen Hanessian

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2014, 10, 1848–1877, doi:10.3762/bjoc.10.195

• diastereomer (Scheme 21). Conversion of tert-butyl ester 170 into aldehyde 171 by a two-step protocol was followed by condensation with (R)-α-phenylglycinol and treatment of the formed Schiff base with trimethylsilylcyanide to afford α-aminonitrile 172 as major isomer (dr > 4:1). Oxidative cleavage with Pb(OAc

Chromatographically separable rotamers of an unhindered amide

• Mario Geffe,
• Lars Andernach,
• Oliver Trapp and
• Till Opatz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2014, 10, 701–706, doi:10.3762/bjoc.10.63

• while the separation of the enthalpic and entropic contributions to this value was not possible with this method [4]. Results and Discussion Synthesis Compound 4 was prepared by C-alkylation of the potassium salt of α-aminonitrile 1 with benzyl bromide 2 utilizing methodology established by our group

The chemistry of amine radical cations produced by visible light photoredox catalysis

• Jie Hu,
• Jiang Wang,
• Theresa H. Nguyen and
• Nan Zheng

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 1977–2001, doi:10.3762/bjoc.9.234

• . König and coworkers showed that the same aza-Henry reaction can be catalyzed by the organic dye Eosin Y to afford the aza-Henry product 18 (Scheme 5) [67]. In addition to nitroalkanes, dialkyl malonates and malononitrile can be used as pronucleophiles to provide β-diester amine 19 and α-aminonitrile 20

Amines as key building blocks in Pd-assisted multicomponent processes

• Didier Bouyssi,
• Nuno Monteiro and
• Geneviève Balme

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2011, 7, 1387–1406, doi:10.3762/bjoc.7.163

• diversity. Synthesis of imidazolinium salts. Access to the indenamine core. Synthesis of substituted tetrahydropyridines. Synthesis of more substituted tetrahydropyridines. Synthesis of chiral tetrahydropyridines. Preparation of α-aminonitrile by a catalyzed Strecker reaction. Synthesis of spiroacetals

Cobalt(II) chloride catalyzed one-pot synthesis of α-aminonitriles

• Surya K. De

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2005, 1, No. 8, doi:10.1186/1860-5397-1-8

• synthesis of α-aminonitriles. In continuation of our work to develop new organic transformations, [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] I report herein that cobalt(II) chloride which acts as a mild Lewis acid might be a useful and inexpensive catalyst for the synthesis α-aminonitrile. Although cobalt(II) chloride