“…In addition, the carbocyanation reaction also proceeded in an intramolecular fashion, 93b,96a–b,97 where use of chiral ligands provided the cyclization products with high enantioselectivities. 96c,98 Acyl nitriles 99 and α-iminonitriles 100 have also been employed as the coupling partners, leading to more functionalized nitrile products. Importantly, Lewis acids, such as BPh 3 , AlMe 3 and AlMe 2 Cl, were demonstrated in 2007 by Hiyama and Nakao to greatly increase the reactivity of the carbocyanation reactions, 101 presumably through coordination with the cyano group to facilitate the oxidative addition step.…”