Palladium-Catalyzed Synthesis of α-Iminonitriles from Aryl Halides via Isocyanide Double Insertion Reaction.

An efficient one-pot synthesis of α-iminonitriles from readily available aryl halides via palladium-catalyzed double isocyanide insertion and elimination has been developed, without using various hypertoxic cyanides and excess oxidants. Furthermore, the utility of this reaction was demonstrated by the rapid total synthesis of quinoxaline and the reaction of functional groups exchanged with aryl halides.