Synthesis of -Heteroarenemethyl Esters via C-C Bond Cleavage of Acyl Cyanides Under Transition Metal-Free Conditions.

A practical method to synthesize -heteroaryl esters from -heteroaryl methanols with acyl cyanides C-C bond cleavage without using any transition metal is demonstrated here. The use of NaCO/15-crown-5 couple enables access to a series of -heteroaryl esters in high efficiency. This protocol is operationally simple and highly environmentally benign producing only cyanides as byproducts.