N-Heterocyclic Carbene/Magnesium Cocatalyzed Radical Relay Assembly of Aliphatic Keto Nitriles

Org Lett. 2021 Jan 15;23(2):394-399. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.0c03883. Epub 2020 Dec 29.

Abstract

An unprecedented N-heterocyclic carbene and magnesium cocatalyzed three-component acylcyanoalkylation of alkenes with cycloketone oxime esters and aldehydes is presented. This method displayed good scope generality, providing a transition-metal- and photoredox-free pathway to access various multifunctionalized aliphatic keto nitrile structures under mild reaction conditions. Moreover, this strategy is supposed to follow a radical relay mechanism via a single electron transfer event of a Mg/matched Breslow intermediate/oxime ester electron-donating acceptor (EDA) complex.