Activation of trimethylsilyl cyanide and mechanistic investigation for facile cyanosilylation by solid acid catalysts under mild and solvent-free conditions Original Research Article

Sulfated-zirconia is found to be a highly efficient heterogeneous solid catalyst in activating trimethylsilyl cyanide (TMSCN) for facile cyanosilylation of aldehydes. A unifying explanation is provided for the cyanosilylation reactions. The unique role of sulfated-zirconia consists of rendering cyanide anions from TMSCN to Cdouble bond; length as m-dashO of aldehydes and providing the corresponding cyanohydrin silyl ethers in quantitative yields under mild and solvent-free conditions.