Copper-Catalyzed Oxidative Cyanation of Aryl Halides with Nitriles Involving Carbon-Carbon Cleavage

A novel, general route for the synthesis of aromatic nitriles is presented that proceeds through Cu(OAc)(2)-catalyzed oxidative cyanation of aryl halides using commercially available nitriles as the cyanide sources and Ag2O/air as the oxidizing agent. It is noteworthy that this work provides a new example of using acetonitrile as the cyanide source for aromatic nitrile synthesis through a Cu-catalyzed oxidative C-C bond cleavage and cyanation process.