Passerini's reaction
Isonitriles and multicomponent reactions

The reaction involving a carboxylic acid, a carbonyl compound and an isonitrile to lead to the formation of an α-acyloxycarboxamide was discovered in 1921 by Mario Passerini (figure 12 ) [18] [19]. It is the first multicomponent reaction involving isonitriles [20].

The mechanism of this reaction has given rise to much discussion [21] and is still subject to controversy [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27]. One important observation is that the Passerini reaction is accelerated in low-polar aprotic solvents (CH ₂ Cl ₂ , Et _2...