Acetonitrile is commonly used as an organic solvent and can also be used as an important intermediate in organic synthesis. Its widespread use has led to the development of new methods for the synthesis of a variety of important compounds. In the past decades, the conversion reactions of acetonitrile as a building block have become one of the most-attractive fields in organic synthesis. Especially in the field of electrochemical conversions involving acetonitrile, due to its good conductivity and environmentally friendly features, it has become a powerful and compelling tool to afford nitrogen-containing compounds or nitrile-containing compounds. In this review, we mainly discuss the research progress involving acetonitrile in the past five years, covering both conventional synthesis methods and electrochemical synthesis. Besides, a detailed discussion of the substrate scope and mechanistic pathways is provided.

In this work, by using N-methoxybenzamides as efficient acyl nitrene precursors, an iron-catalyzed formal cis-haloamidation of alkyne is reported. Without assistance of additives, the reaction worked well in the presence of 50 mol% FeCl₃ or FeBr₃, leading to a series of chloro/bromo-containing isoindolin-5-ones with high efficiency and wide reaction scope. In the reaction, the iron-facilitated haloamidation proceeds through a halo anion-participating concerted [3+2] cyclization to release the final products. The key intermediate ferric acyl nitrene A is generated in situ from a formal removal of MeOH.

^‡ These authors contributed equally. Sulfur-containing moieties, especially thioethers (sulfides), play pivotal roles in the functionalities of many natural products, pharmaceutical compounds, and organic materials. In this review, we summarize the recent synthetic protocols of thioethers using thiolating reagents, including sulfonyl chlorides, sodium sulfinates, and sulfonyl hydrazides, as the ideal starting materials. Representative mechanisms for different types of reaction are also discussed. 1 Introduction 2 Synthesis of Thioethers from Sulfonyl Chlorides 3 Synthesis of Thioethers from Sodium Sulfinates 4 Synthesis of Thioethers from Sulfonyl Hydrazides 5 Conclusion