Zn-Catalyzed Cyanation of Aryl Iodides

We report the first example of zinc-catalyzed cyanation of aryl iodides with formamide as the cyanogen source. The transformation was promoted by the bisphosphine Nixantphos ligand. Under optimized conditions, a variety of electron-donating and electron-withdrawing aryl iodides were converted into nitrile products in good to excellent yields. This approach is an exceedingly simple and benign method for the synthesis of aryl nitriles and is likely to proceed via a dinuclear Zn-concerted catalysis.