Sterically Demanding Oxidative Amidation of α‐Substituted Malononitriles with Amines Using O(2)

An efficient amidation method between readily available 1,1‐dicyanoalkanes and either chiral or nonchiral amines was realized simply with molecular oxygen and a carbonate base. This oxidative protocol can be applied to both sterically and electronically challenging substrates in a highly chemoselective, practical, and rapid manner. The use of cyclopropyl and thioether substrates support the radical formation of α‐peroxy malononitrile species, which can cyclize to dioxiranes that can monooxygenate malononitrile α‐carbanions to afford activated acyl cyanides capable of reacting with amine nucleophiles.