Sandmeyer cyanation of arenediazonium tetrafluoroborate using acetonitrile as a cyanide source

Abstract

Palladium-catalyzed cyanation of aryldiazonium tetrafluoroborate using acetonitrile as a non-metallic cyanide source was achieved in the presence of Ag₂O under ambient air, eliminating the involvement of highly toxic CuCN used in the traditional Sandmeyer reaction, in which the CN group comes from metallic cyanides.