Potassium phthalimide-N-oxyl was used as an effective, easy to handle and readily available Lewis basic organocatalyst for the facile addition of trimethylsilyl cyanide to various carbonyl compounds at room temperature under mild conditions to afford corresponding cyanohydrin trimethylsilyl ethers in high to quantitative yields. The high yields of products, high turnover numbers of the catalyst, compatibility of other functional groups, and simplicity in the operation are the advantages of this method. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.