METAL-CATALYZED CARBON-CARBON BOND FORMATION IN THE REACTION OF BETA-DICARBONYLS WITH NITRILES

A new synthetic procedure to carbon-carbon bond formation between C-H acidic compounds and nucleophiles, like Michael acceptors and nitriles, is based on the use of metal (II) centres as catalysts in a homogeneous phase. The contributions to the inorganic, organic and mechanistic aspects of the reaction of beta-dicarbonyls with nitriles are reviewed. Metal catalysis appears, for the investigated systems, largely superior to the traditional approach, which employs organic bases as catalysts, and the perspectives of an extension of this metal-catalysed procedure are illustrated.