Nickel-Catalyzed ?-Alkylation of Arylacetonitriles with Challenging Alcohols br

Nickel(II) complex 1 was utilized as a sustainable catalyst for alpha-alkylation of arylacetonitriles with challenging secondary alcohols. Arylacetonitriles with a wide range of functional groups were tolerated, and various cyclic and acyclic secondary alcohols were utilized to yield a large number of alpha- alkylated products. The plausible mechanism involves the base promoted activation of precatalyst 1 to an active catalyst 2 (dehydrochlorinated product) which activates the O-H and C-H bonds of the secondary alcohol in a dehydrogenative pathway.