Nitriles as radical acceptors in radical cascade reactions

The cyano group is a valuable and readily available functional group for the preparation of various functional groups, such as amines, carboxylic acids, and ketones. In recent decades, the radical cascade reaction has emerged as a versatile tool to prepare a large variety of functional molecules. The application of the cyano group as a radical acceptor in cascade reactions provides diverse opportunities for the convenient construction of various important heterocycles and carbocycles. Such synthetic strategies will open new ways for the rapid buildup of molecular complexity. The focus of this review is the summary of the dynamic field of radical cascade processes using the cyano group as a radical acceptor, which has not been well documented so far.