Reduction of aromatic nitriles into aldehydes using calcium hypophosphite and a nickel precursor.

Herein we report the reduction of aromatic nitriles into aldehydes with calcium hypophosphite in the presence of base and nickel(ii) complex in a water/ethanol mixture. This catalytic system reduced efficiently a series of aromatic nitriles bearing different functional groups such as -Cl, -CF3, -Br, -CH3, -OCH3, -COOCH2CH3, -OH and -CHO. The corresponding aldehydes were isolated in moderate to excellent yields (30-94%).