Ethyl Cyanoacetate: A New Cyanating Agent for the Palladium-Catalyzed Cyanation of Aryl Halides

A new Pd-catalyzed cyanation reaction has been discovered using ethyl cyanoacetate as the cyanating reagent. A variety of electron-rich and electron-deficient aryl halides were efficiently converted into their corresponding nitriles in good to excellent yields.