Highly Diastereoselective α-Arylation of Cyclic Nitriles

A highly diastereoselective α-arylation of cyclic nitriles has been developed via a Negishi cross-coupling of commercially available aryl, heteroaryl, and alkenyl halides with cyclobutyl nitriles in the presence of tetramethylpiperidinylzinc chloride lithium chloride (TMPZnCl•LiCl) and catalytic XPhos-Pd-G2. A variety of electronically diverse electrophiles were well tolerated, and this chemistry was further advanced with application of both cyclopropyl and cyclopentyl nitriles.