Water-Mediated Strecker Reaction: An Efficient and Environmentally Friendly Approach for the Synthesis of alpha-Aminonitriles via a Three-Component Condensation

The synthesis of -aminonitriles by a direct three component Strecker reaction has been achieved in water, which is found to be an inexpensive, non-toxic and eco-friendly reaction medium for the nucleophilic addition. This protocol is effective to a wide variety of substrates with different functional groups and does not require the use any other catalyst.