Benzylcyanide and 4-nitrobenzylcyanide condensed with triethyl orthoformate and piperidine or morpholine to yield 2-aryl-2-piperidinyl or 2-morpholinylacrylonitriles. These coupled with aromatic diazonium salts to yield the 2-arylhydrazno-2-arylethane nitriles in good yields. The latter were converted into 4-aminopyrazoles in good yields using the Thorpe-Ziegler cyclization.

A base-promoted, microwave-assisted one-pot tandem reaction from simple 3-(1-alkynyl)chromones with 2-halobenzylic nitriles (esters or amides) for the synthesis of novel functional polycyclic chromenones has been developed. This tandem process involves multiple reactions, such as Michael addition and double cyclizations without a transition metal catalyst.

zn/acoh on silica gel converts a range of structurally different sulfoxides to their corresponding thioethers in excellent yields under microwave irradiation. it has been found that chemoselective deoxygenation of sufoxides can be achieved in the presence of other reducible functional groups such as acetals, acids, amides,   esters, ketones and nitriles.

a simple and efficient one-pot, three-component strecker reaction of protected amino acids, aromatic aldehydes, and trimethylsilyl cyanide has been developed for the synthesis of chiral α-amino nitriles. the reaction was carried out in the presence of catalytic amount of phosphotungstic acid (h3[p(w3o10)4]) as an environmentally friendly catalyst.

Pyrido- and pyrrolo[2,3-d]oxazoles can be conveniently prepared in high yield from the Ritter reaction of nitriles and in situ generated chiral cyclic N-acyliminium ions. cis-4-Hydroxy-5-acylaminopyrrolidines and cis-5-hydroxy-6-acylaminopiperidines can be readily obtained by acid hydrolysis of these bicyclic heterocyclic compounds, respectively.

We report the first catalytic asymmetric cyanation of N-Boc ketoimines, which enables highly enantioselective synthesis of oxindole based α-amino nitriles. An unprecedented tandem aza-Wittig/Strecker reaction is also developed, emerging as a promising strategy for the catalytic asymmetric cyanation of ketoimines formed in situ from achiral ketones.

An efficient copper-mediated three-component reaction of 2,3-allenoates or 2-alkynoates, amines, and nitriles affording fully substituted pyrazoles with a very nice diversity has been developed. A tandem conjugate addition, 1,2-addition, and N-N bond formation mechanism has been proposed for this diverse synthesis of pyrazoles based on mechanistic studies.

α-Nitro-δ-keto nitriles and α-nitro-δ-keto ester were readily converted to diazabicyclo compounds having vicinal functionality upon treatment with diamines. The keto nitrile attracts the diamine nearby to an acidic hydrogen to cause the pseudo-intramolecular imination which proceeds efficiently without any catalyst at room temperature.