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Updated: Jun 21, 2025

Photogeneration of N-Heterocyclic Carbenes: Application in Photoinduced Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization
Published on: November 29, 2018
Direct Cyanoalkylation of Imines Driven by a Photoactive Electron Donor-Acceptor Complex
Wei Liu1, Hao Hou1, Haochuan Jing1
1International Collaborative Laboratory of 2D Materials for Optoelectronics Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Institute of Microscale Optoelectronics, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518060, P. R. China.
Abstract:
β-Amino nitriles are important molecular scaffolds. Cyanoalkylation of imines is the most straightforward method for the construction of these scaffolds. In this study, we report the novel cyanoalkylation of imines via radical coupling enabled by a photoactive electron donor-acceptor complex. This strategy is characterized by mild conditions, broad reaction scopes, and high atom economy. The scalability and practicality of this strategy are demonstrated by a 40 g continuous flow system from which a variety of important pharmaceutical-related molecules were obtained.
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