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 homogene ous phase. The contributions to the inorganic, organic and mechanistic aspects of the reaction of beta-dicarbonyls with nitriles are reviewe d. Metal catalysis appears, for the investigated systems, largely supe rior to the traditional approach, which employs organic bases as catal ysts, and the perspectives of an extension of this metal-catalysed pro cedure are illustrated.