Diastereoselective One-Pot Knoevenagel Condensation/Corey–Chaykovsky Cyclopropanation

Efforts to substitute the cyclopropane ring in a series of aryl cyclopropylnitriles led to the discovery of an operationally simple one-pot method for Knoevenagel condensation and subsequent Corey–Chaykovsky cyclopropanation giving diastereomerically pure products as a racemic mixture of enantiomers. Method development and results for variably substituted aryl acetonitriles and aldehydes in the reaction are reported. A concise synthesis of (±)-bicifadine in two steps is provided to demonstrate the utility of the method