Highly practical synthesis of nitriles and heterocycles from alcohols under mild conditions by aerobic double dehydrogenative catalysis.

A mild, aerobic, catalytic process for obtaining nitriles directly from alcohols and aqueous ammonia is described. The reaction proceeds via a dehydrogenation cascade mediated by catalytic CuI, bpy, and TEMPO in the presence of O2. The substrate scope is broad including various functionalized aromatic and aliphatic alcohols. This protocol enabled the one-pot synthesis of various biaryl heterocycles directly from commercially available alcohols.