Environmentally Friendly Room Temperature Strecker Reaction: One-Pot Synthesis of a-Aminonitriles in Ionic Liquid

M.M. Mojtahedi*, M.S. Abaee and H. Abbasi

Chemistry & Chemical Engineering Research Center of Iran, P.O.Box 14335-186, Tehran, Iran

(Received 23 November2005, Accepted 17 January 2006)

      A three component efficient and facile procedure is developed for the synthesis of a-aminonitriles from aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes, amines, and trimethylsilyl cyanide in 1-butyl-3-methyl-1H-imidazolium perchlorate ([bmim][ClO₄]) ionic liquid as the reaction medium at room temperature. Excellent yields are obtained in this one-pot procedure with short reaction times and the ionic liquid medium reused several times in a row.

Key words: Ionic liquids, Strecker reaction, a-Aminonitriles, Imminium ions