Two Zn(II)/Cd(II) Coordination Polymers as Recyclable Heterogeneous Catalysts for an Efficient Room-Temperature Synthesis of α‑Aminonitriles via the Solvent-Free Strecker Reaction

The α-aminonitriles are versatile building blocks in the synthesis of natural or artificial amino acids as well as important intermediates in organic synthesis. For their synthesis, the three-component Strecker reaction involving an aldehyde or a ketone together with amines and trimethylsilyl cyanide is used. In the literature, hydrothermally produced metal-based heterogeneous Lewis acid catalysts have been utilized in various solvents. In this work, we aimed at a greener approach toward such catalysis by (a) making two precatalysts with d¹⁰ metal centers, {[Zn(hipamifba)(H₂O)]·2H₂O}_n (1) and {[Cd(hipamifba)(H₂O)₂]·2H₂O}_n (2) (where H₂hipamifba = 4-(((4-((carboxymethyl) carbamoyl)phenyl)amino)methyl)benzoic acid), via an easy and scalable room-temperature method, and (b) showcasing the use of these coordination polymers (CPs) as very efficient, recyclable, and heterogeneous catalysts for the Strecker reaction to form α-aminonitriles in high yields under solvent-free reaction at ambient conditions. This has also allowed us to demonstrate the importance of open metal sites in such catalysis through an efficiency comparison between activated 1 and 2. In addition, activated 2 exhibited a wide substrate scope including a natural product Girgensohnine, providing an example of a natural product synthesis by a CP catalyst via an organic transformation such as the Strecker reaction.