Nitrene reactions include:
* Nitrene C–H insertion. A nitrene can easily insert into a carbon to hydrogen covalent bond yielding an amine or amide. A singlet nitrene reacts with retention of configuration. In one study a nitrene, formed by oxidation of a carbamate  with potassium persulfate, gives an insertion reaction into the palladium to nitrogen bond of the reaction product of palladium(II) acetate with 2-phenylpyridine to methyl N-(2-pyridylphenyl)carbamate in a cascade reaction:
:A nitrene intermediate is suspected in this C–H insertion involving an oxime, acetic anhydride leading to an isoindole:
* Nitrene cycloaddition. With alkenes, nitrenes react to form aziridines, very often with nitrenoid precursors such as nosyl- or tosyl-substituted [N-(phenylsulfonyl)imino]phenyliodinane (PhI=NNs or PhI=NTs respectively)) but the reaction is known to work directly with the sulfonamide in presence of a transition metal based catalyst such as copper, palladium, or gold:
:In most cases, however, [N-(p-nitrophenylsulfonyl)imino]phenyliodinane (PhI=NNs) is prepared separately as follows:
:Nitrene transfer takes place next:
:In this particular reaction both the cis-stilbene illustrated and the trans form (not depicted) result in the same trans-aziridine product, suggesting a two-step reaction mechanism. The energy difference between triplet and singlet nitrenes can be very small in some cases, allowing interconversion at room temperature. Triplet nitrenes are thermodynamically more stable but react stepwise allowing free rotation and thus producing a mixture of stereochemistry.
* Arylnitrene ring-expansion and ring-contraction: Aryl nitrenes show ring expansion to 7-membered ring cumulenes, ring opening reactions and nitrile formations many times in complex reaction paths. For instance the azide 2 in the scheme below trapped in an argon matrix at 20 K on photolysis expels nitrogen to the triplet nitrene 4 (observed experimentally with ESR and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy) which is in equilibrium with the ring-expansion product 6.
:The nitrene ultimately converts to the ring-opened nitrile 5 through the diradical intermediate 7. In a high-temperature reaction, FVT at 500–600 °C also yields the nitrile 5 in 65% yield.