An Efficient Synthesis of Nitriles from Aldoximes Using Diethyl Phosphorocyanidate under Mild Conditions

Nitriles are valuable intermediates in organic synthesis not only because they serve as the appropriate precursors to various functional groups, but also because they are widely used as the key intermediates for pharmaceuticals, agro-chemicals and various N-heterocyclic compounds.1 The cyano group itself is also frequently found in many biologically important molecules.2 Therefore, a variety of synthetic routes to nitriles from diverse chemical precursors have been developed.3 Among these routes, nitrile synthesis from aldoximes using an ap-propriate dehydrating agent has been a general and clean method. For this purpose, numerous reagents such as chlorosulfonyl isocyanate,4a di-2-pyridyl sulfite,4b Burgess reagent,4c [RuCl2(p-cymene)]2/MS 4A