Inorganic/organic salts as heterogeneous basic catalysts for cyanosilylation of carbonyl compounds

The addition of TMSCN to carbonyl compounds catalyzed by K2CO3 as heterogeneous catalyst gave the corresponding cyanohydrin trimethylsilyl ethers from 20 minutes to 24 hours with 62% to 99% yields without solvent at room temperature. Moreover, it was found that chiral organic salts as heterogeneous catalysts also can catalyze the asymmetric version and afford the corresponding products with up to 99% yield and 12.4% ee