Iron-Catalyzed Dehydration of Aldoximes to Nitriles Requiring Neither Other Reagents Nor Nitrile Media.

The dehydration of aldoximes is an environmentally benign reaction affording the desired nitrile and water as a by-product. However, most of the reported catalytic dehydration reactions of aldoximes require a solvent containing nitrile to synthesize the corresponding nitrile compounds. Inspired by recent reports on the enzymatic synthesis under nitrile-free conditions, we here describe that a simple iron salt catalyzes the dehydration of aldoximes requiring neither other reagents nor nitrile media. Our method can be applied to the one-pot synthesis of nitiriles from aldehydes.