The cyanohydrin formation reaction is one of the fundamental carbon–carbon bond-forming reactions in organic chemistry. 1 Optical cyanohydrins can usually be used as versatile synthons to form a wide variety of important chiral compounds such as α-amino acids, α-hydroxy carboxylic acids, β-amino alcohols, vicinal diols and α-hydroxy ketones. 2 In the last few decades, a range of catalysts has been developed for this reaction including enzymes, 3 cyclic dipeptides, 4 ...
