Iminyl Radicals: A Fresh Look at a Forgotten Species (and Some of its Relatives)

New methods for the generation of iminyl radicals and other related nitrogen centered radicals are described. Intramolecular capture of such species allows an efficient yet simple construction of nitrogen containing heterocycles, especially relevant to the field of alkaloids. Iminyl radicals can also be used to trigger the opening of strained rings such as cyclobutanones and certain cyclopentanones or incorporated in radical cascades in a synthetically useful manner.