After having established the optimal reaction conditions, we investigated the substrate scope of 2-isocyano-6-alkenylbenzonitriles and arylboronic acids (
Scheme 2). The reactions of arylboronic acids which substrates with electron-doating (Me, OMe) or electron-withdrawing groups (F, Cl, Br, CN, COMe) in the
para position could proceed smoothly to afford the corresponding products
3b-
h in 36%–69% yields. When the methyl group shifted to the
ortho or
meta position of the aryl ring, the reaction proceeded smoothly to give the desired products
3j and
3m in 23% and 75% yields, respectively. While, when the (2,6-dimethylphenyl)boronic acid
2l was applied to the reaction with
1a, the reaction failed to give the desired product
3l. It is worth noting that when the F atom as an
ortho substituent of the arylboronic acid, the yield of the corresponding product
3k increased to 60%. The results indicate that steric effects have a significant effect on the reaction. In addition, the reactions of the (3,4-dimethylphenyl)boronic acid and naphthalen-2-ylboronic acid with
1a could furnish the corresponding products
3n and
3p in 76% and 79% yield, respectively. Unfortunately, when the pyridin-4-ylboronic acid was employed in the reaction with
1a and failed to obtain the desired product
3o under the standard conditions. Then, a series of 2-isocyano-6-alkenylbenzonitrile were synthesized and have been subjected to the reactions with
2a under the optimized conditions. It should be noted that the corresponding products
3q-
u were obtained in moderate to excellent yields. To show the potential applications of our method, we tried the reactions of
1f with
2a in 1.0 mmol scale under the standard reaction conditions. To our delight, the reaction proceeded smoothly to afford
3u in 93% yield.