Synthesis and Reduction of α-Fluoroacetonitriles

A scalable approach for the cyanosilation of benzaldehydes and acetophenones using indium trichloride, a versatile, user friendly catalyst is developed. Cyanohydrin trimethylsilyl ethers are converted in the same pot to α-fluorophenyl acetonitriles which are efficiently reduced to their corresponding amines using sodium borohydride in presence of cerium trichloride. Keywords: Cyanohydrin silyl ether, indium trichloride, α-fluorophenyl acetonitrile, sodium borohydride, cerium trichloride, DAST.