Molecular iodine-catalyzed multicomponent synthesis of α-cyanopyrrolines with ambient air as the oxidant under neat conditions

In this work, a variety of α-cyanopyrrolines were efficiently synthesized from alkenes, TMSCN and N,N-disubstituted formamides via molecular iodine-catalyzed tandem reaction under neat and mild conditions. This method applies ambient air as the sole oxidant and circumvents the use of transition metals and extra solvents to afford a broad range of final products with good regio- and chemo-selectivity.