Guanidine hydrochloride: An active and simple catalyst for Strecker type reaction

Commercially available guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl) has been found to be a highly efficient catalyst for the Strecker reaction. A wide variety of aldehydes can be easily transformed into the corresponding alpha-aminonitriles using 3 mol% GuHCl within I h at 40 degrees C in methanol. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.