Highly Diastereoselective Synthesis of Polysubstituted Cyclopropanecarbonitriles via Palladium-Catalyzed Cyanoesterification of Cyclopropenes.

We herein develop a highly diastereoselective synthesis of cyano-substituted cyclopropanes via palladium-catalyzed direct cyanoesterification of cyclopropenes, which features mild reaction conditions, good functional group compatibility, and simple operation. This transformation represents a stepwise, highly atom economic, and scalable protocol for obtaining synthetically useful cyclopropanecarbonitriles.