Uncovering a solvent-free eco-friendly cyanosilylation of aldehydes through a well-defined gold(i)-NHC heterogeneous catalyst

Abstract

A wide variety of fine and speciality chemicals, including a wide range of polyfunctionalized building blocks in biologically active compounds such as – β-amino alcohols, α-hydroxy acids, α-hydroxy ketones, α-amino acids, and many others, are accessible through cyanosilylation, one of the best reactions of carbonyl compounds to produce value-added cyanohydrins. Here, we demonstrate a practical method for utilising well-defined gold(I)-NHC [Au(NHC)Cl]₂ catalysis to transform a variety of aldehydes into their corresponding cyanohydrin trimethylsilyl ethers. A number of aldehydes, including electron-rich/electron-poor aromatic aldehydes, hetero-aromatic aldehydes, and cyclic aliphatic aldehydes, have been successfully transformed into the corresponding value-added cyanohydrin trimethylsilyl ethers using the trimethylsilyl cyanide reagent at room temperature under solvent-free conditions.