In this conversion, a dichloromethane solution of tert-butylamine is treated with chloroform and aqueous sodium hydroxide in the presence of catalytic amount of the phase transfer catalyst benzyltriethylammonium chloride.

The difference, as with all carbylamine analogs of nitriles, is that the bond joining the CN functional group to the parent molecule is made on the nitrogen, not the carbon.

By virtue of the lone electron pair on carbon, isocyanides serves as ligands in coordination chemistry, especially with metals in the 0, +1, and +2 oxidation states.

tert-Butyl isocyanide has been shown to stabilize metals in unusual oxidation states, such as Pd(I).

[3] tert-Butyl isocyanide can form hepta-coordinate homoleptic complexes, despite having a large t-Bu group, which is held far away from the metal center because of the linearity of the M-C≡N-C linkages.