Herein, we disclose a transition-metal-free reaction system that enables α-cyanation of sulfonamides through C–H bond cleavage for the preparation of α-amino nitriles, including difficult-to-access all-alkyl α-tertiary scaffolds. More than 50 substrate examples prove a wide functional group tolerance. Additionally, its synthetic practicality is highlighted by gram-scalability and the late-stage modification
and efficient three-step sequence for the deamination of α-aminoesters is reported. This method is based on the NaBH4-mediated selective reduction of α-diazoesters to α-hydrazonoesters and has been successfully applied to the deamination of several representative α-aminoesters including some l-cysteine ethyl ester derivatives, key intermediates in the synthesis of a series of CysLT1 antagonists.