Aromatic nitriles are one of the ubiquitous versatile materials in organic synthesis, and also a class of important synthetic intermediates for a wide range of applications in pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, dyes, spices, and functional materials. However, the C-CN bond of aryl nitriles has rarely been considered as a valuable reaction site due to the high thermodynamic stability. Therefore, the development of simple and efficient methods to catalyze the C-CN bond transformation of aryl nitriles has become one of the hot research topics in recent years. In this review, the recent advances in the transformation reactions of aromatic nitriles via C-CN bond cleavage in the past decade are summarized and classified according to different reaction mechanisms, mainly including transition metal-mediated/catalyzed C-CN transformation, free radical-mediated C-CN transformation, Lewis acid, base or Brønsted acid-mediated C-CN transformation. The reaction substrate compatibility, mechanism, applications, advantages and limitations in this field are also discussed in detail. Keywords aromatic nitriles; C-CN bond cleavage; transformation reaction; classification of reaction mechanisms 氰基是由碳和氮原子通过叁键相连接的基团(即 CN), 含有氰基的化合物称为腈. 有机氰化物是一类基 础且重要的合成原料和中间体, 在有机合成领域具有重 要的作用. 如利用氰化物可容易获得其他更具价值的官 能团化合物, 包括酰胺、酯基、醛基、羧酸以及伯胺等 官能团 [1] , 也广泛应用于药物、农用化学品、精细化学 品、染料、香料以及功能材料等领域 [2] . 芳香腈类化合 物原料很容易获得, 通常采用过渡金属催化芳烃卤代物 的氰基化 [3] 或者芳烃 C-H 键活化进行氰基化反应以及 酰胺脱水等 [4] . 碳碳键的形成和转化是众多化学爱好者的研究课 题. 然而 C-CN 键具有较高的键能(>400 kJ/mol), 其 断裂反应一直是研究难点之一. 总的来说, 在交叉偶联 中使用芳香腈(ArCN)的情况较少, 以往大多利用过渡 金属催化芳基卤化物或芳香亲核取代(S N Ar)实现芳基化 偶合反应 [5] .