Efficient Activation of Acetals toward Nucleophiles by the Use of Transition Metal Salts. New Method for Cyanation of Acetals and Orthoester Derived from Aromatic and α,β-Unsaturated Carbonyl Compounds with Trimethylsilyl Cyanide under Neutral Condition

Abstract
In the presence of a catalytic amount of transition metal salts (NiCl2, CoCl2, PdCl2, etc.), trimethylsilyl cyanide smoothly reacts with acetals or orthoester derived from aromatic and α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds to give the corresponding α-cyano derivatives under neutral condition.