N-Heterocyclic Carbene/Magnesium Cocatalyzed Radical Relay Assembly of Aliphatic Keto Nitriles

An unprecedented N-heterocyclic carbene and magnesium cocatalyzed three-component acylcyanoalkylation of alkenes with cycloketone oxime esters and aldehydes is presented. This method displayed good scope generality, providing a transition-metal- and photoredox-free pathway to access various multifunctionalized aliphatic keto nitrile structures under mild reaction conditions. Moreover, this strategy is supposed to follow a radical relay mechanism via a single electron transfer event of a Mg/matched Breslow intermediate/oxime ester electron-donating acceptor (EDA) complex.