Niobium(V) chloride-catalyzed synthesis of α-aminonitriles with simultaneous reaction of aldehydes, amines and trimethylsilyl cyanide

A simple and efficient one-pot method has been developed for the synthesis of alpha-aminonitriles by concurrent reaction of aldehydes, amines and trimethylsilyl cyanide with a catalytic amount of NbCl5 (10 mol%) in CH3CN at room temperature. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.