Amidine substrates for the reaction can easily be formed from the correspondingnitriles via thePinner reaction. The halide substituent in the diazirine product can be displaced by a variousnucleophiles.[4]
^Graham, W. H. (1965-10-01). "The Halogenation of Amidines. I. Synthesis of 3-Halo- and Other Negatively Substituted Diazirines".Journal of the American Chemical Society.87 (19):4396–4397.doi:10.1021/ja00947a040.ISSN0002-7863.
^Moss, Robert A.; Wlostowska, Joanna; Guo, Wenjeng; Fedorynski, Michal; Springer, James P.; Hirshfield, Jordan M. (1981). "Mechanism of Graham's reaction".J. Org. Chem.46 (24):5048–5050.doi:10.1021/jo00337a061.
