Nickel-catalyzed highly regioselective hydrocyanation of aliphatic allenes

A nickel-catalyzed hydrocyanation of aliphatic allenes with excellent regioselectivity is developed. This protocol features mild reaction conditions and good functional group tolerance, providing an efficient catalytic pathway to access various allylic nitriles containing quaternary carbon centers in a one-step fashion. In addition, preliminarily attempts were made to investigate an asymmetric version of this reaction.