Nickel-Catalyzed Cyanation of Allylic Alcohols: High Degree of Chiral Inversion in Aqueous Reaction Media

Nickel-catalyzed aqueous cyanation of allylic alcohols is herein described. This catalytic protocol provided environmentally friendly and operationally simple access to a variety of allylic nitriles in good yields. For chiral allylic alcohols, the reaction gave chiral allylic nitriles with a high degree of chiral inversion. The accelerated release of cyanide in H2O was crucial for the success of this reaction.