N-Heterocyclic carbenes prepared from imidazolium salts and bases, have been used mainly in transition metal-catalyzed reactions as ligands. [1] However, their suitability as nucleophilic catalysts has been underdeveloped. [2] We recently reported the first catalytic cyanosilylation reaction of aldehydes using N-heterocyclic carbene 2. [3a] This finding prompted us to investigate the applicability of an N-heterocyclic carbene to Strecker reaction [4] (cyanation of imines) ...