Chiral nitriles and their derivatives are prevalent in pharmaceuticals and bioactive compounds. Enantioselective alkene hydrocyanation represents a convenient and efficient approach for synthesizing these molecules. However, a generally applicable method featuring a broad substrate scope and high functional group tolerance remains elusive. Here, we address this long-standing synthetic problem using dual electrocatalysis. Using this strategy, we leverage electrochemistry to seamlessly combine two canonical radical reactions—cobalt-mediated hydrogen-atom transfer and copper-promoted radical cyanation—to accomplish highly enantioselective hydrocyanation without the need for stoichiometric oxidants. We also harness electrochemistry’s unique feature of precise potential control to optimize the chemoselectivity of challenging substrates. Computational analysis uncovers the origin of enantio-induction, for which the chiral catalyst imparts a combination of attractive and repulsive non-covalent interactions to direct the enantio-determining C–CN bond formation. This work demonstrates the power of electrochemistry in accessing new chemical space and providing solutions to pertinent challenges in synthetic chemistry.

手性腈及其衍生物普遍存在于药物和生物活性化合物中。对映选择性烯烃氢氰化代表了合成这些分子的方便而有效的方法。然而，具有广泛的底物范围和高的官能团耐受性的普遍适用的方法仍然难以捉摸。在这里，我们使用双重电催化技术解决了这一长期存在的合成问题。使用这种策略，我们利用电化学技术无缝地结合了两个规范的自由基反应（钴介导的氢原子转移和铜促进的自由基氰化），无需化学计量的氧化剂即可实现高度对映选择性的氢氰化。我们还利用电化学精确控制电位的独特功能来优化具有挑战性的底物的化学选择性。计算分析揭示了对映体诱导的起源，为此，手性催化剂结合了吸引性和排斥性非共价相互作用的组合，以指导对映体确定C-CN键的形成。这项工作展示了电化学在进入新的化学领域并为合成化学中的相关挑战提供解决方案方面的力量。