Sequential reactions of aminoalkynes represent a powerful tool to easily assembly biologically important polyfunctionalized nitrogen heterocyclic scaffolds. Metal catalysis often plays a key role in terms of selectivity, efficiency, atom economy, and green chemistry of these sequential approaches. This review examines the existing literature on the applications of reactions of aminoalkynes with carbonyls, which are emerging for their synthetic potential. Aspects concerning the features of the starting reagents, the catalytic systems, alternative reaction conditions, pathways and possible intermediates are provided.

An electrochemical initiated tandem reaction of anilines with 2-formyl benzonitrile has been developed. Thus, unprecedented 3-N-aryl substituted isoindolinones have been conveniently achieved by constant current electrolysis in a divided cell using catalytic amount of electricity and supporting electrolyte and a Pt-cathode as working electrode. The origin of the electrochemical activation as well as the mechanism of the subsequent chemical cascade reactions have been investigated by DFT calculations.

The title compound has been synthetized using a one-pot cascade process of ethyl (E)-3-(2-aminophenyl) acrylate and 2-formylbenzonitrile in the presence of Cs2CO3 as the catalyst. The synthetic route has been rationalized as a base-catalyzed tandem addition/cyclization/rearrangement initiated by the aniline molecule, followed by sequential aza-Michael addition/dehydrogenation. A theoretical investigation also provided a rationale for its fluorescence properties.

Sequential reactions of aminoalkynes represent a powerful tool to easily assembly biologically important polyfunctionalized nitrogen heterocyclic scaffolds. Metal catalysis often plays a key role in terms of selectivity, efficiency, atom economy and green chemistry of these sequential approaches. This review examines the existing literature on the applications of reactions of aminoalkynes with carbonyls which are emerging for their synthetic potential. Aspect concerning the features of the starting reagents, the catalytic systems, alternative reaction conditions and the pathways as well as the possible intermediates are provided.

An expeditious assembling of fused poly‐heterocyclic structures having a N(Acyl), N(aryl)‐Acetal core has been accomplished by cascade reaction of ortho‐functionalized anilines with 2‐formylbenzonitrile and subsequent intramolecular N‐amidic cyclization on different electrophilic carbons. The syntheses have been finalized using both cathodically‐initiated and conventional base‐catalyzed methods and comparing the two approaches in terms of substrate/product scope, efficiency, energy‐saving and sustainability in general.