Radical-promoted site-specific cross dehydrogenative coupling of heterocycles with nitriles.

A first free-radical triggered site-specific cross dehydrogenative coupling reaction of heterocycles with simple nitriles is developed. It allows efficient and facile access to various C-2 cyanoalkylated furans, thiophenes, indoles, and pyrroles. The extremely high selectivities in this case indicate that functionalization of an inert C-H bond could be well-controlled by radical initiation.