The Michael reaction is one of the most fundamental approaches for the formation of new carbon–carbon and carbon–heteroatom bonds. 5 As a typical Michael donor, malononitrile would, no doubt, react with α,β-unsaturated enones, giving adduct 2 (Scheme 1a). 6 In our research on Michael-addition initiated cascade reactions, we disclose an unprecedented transformation into functionalized nitriles 3via formal Michael addition by using malononitrile as the ...