Nitriles as multipurpose reagents for the synthesis of sultams and sultons (review article)

In this review, we discuss the use of the nitrile function in the synthesis of cyclic sulfonamides (sultams), an important class of antibiotics The cyano group is a versatile building block in sultam synthesis. It can form the sultam and sulton skeleton or activate adjacent positions. Commonly, the nitrile group undergoes the CSIC reaction, acting as an electrophilic center attacked by a carbanion, forming enamines. Nitriles also facilitate α-position substitutions through alkylation or cyclization and activate unsaturated bonds in various cycloadditions. Literature indicates the nitrile group, as a methyleneamine precursor, shows promise for sultam synthesis. This method could efficiently produce spirocyclic sultams with applications in chemistry and biology.