Nickel-catalyzed cyclization of alkynyl nitriles with isocyanide: An expedient way to the synthesis of polysubstituted pyrroles

Abstract

We herein describe a nickel-catalyzed cascade cyclization of alkynyl nitriles with tert-butylisocyanide under simple reaction conditions. A couple of polysubstituted pyrroles were obtained in moderate yields and with excellent regioselectivity in some cases. The products from this protocol are synthetically useful since the parent pyrrole ring bears one free amino and two cyano groups which enable diverse late-stage transformations.