Cyanative alkene–aldehyde coupling: Ni(0)–NHC–Et2AlCN mediated chromanol synthesis with high cis-selectivity at room temperature

Abstract

Described are several classes of Ni(0) mediated cyanative alkene–aldehyde coupling reactions, providing 6-membered cores, which complement existing cyclization technology in several respects. Et₂AlCN was used as both a cyclization accelerator and CN source. The NHC ligand may have a positive effect in differentiating reductive elimination and syn-β-hydride elimination.