In this manuscript, a simple and copper‐free procedure for the synthesis of aryl nitrile derivatives from anilines is described. Under the improved protocol, the anilines were reacted with tert‐butyl isocyanide under a mild reaction condition without the use of solvents and copper catalyst to synthesize benzonitriles. This copper‐free Sandmeyer‐type reaction could tolerate a range of anilines bearing different functional groups and also can be conducted even without the exclusion of air. In addition, this method has afforded the aryl nitriles in moderate to good yields (52–81%). The obtained results in this study reveal that the tert‐butyl isocyanide as a potential cyanide source for the cyanation reaction.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.