N-Iodosuccinimide (NIS) a novel and effective catalyst for the cyanosilylation of aldehydes under mild reaction conditions

An efficient protocol for the addition of TMSCN to aldehydes in CH2Cl2 by employing 0.5 mol% of N-iodosuccinimide (NIS) as the catalyst is presented. A variety of aldehydes have been converted into the corresponding trimethylsilylethers within 15 min in excellent yield (up to 99%) under mild conditions.