The reactions of phenyldimethylsilyllithium with nitriles

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/0022-328X(96)06220-1

Phenyldimethylsilyllithium reacts with nitriles by several substantially different pathways depending upon the structure of the nitrile. The products include the acylsilane 2 from pivalonitrile (1), cumylsilane 5 from 2-phenylisobutyronitrile (4), the α-anion from phenylacetonitrile (9), and a mixture of benzil (15) and 2,4,5-triphenylimidazole (17) from benzonitrile (13).