We have developed an efficient method for the palladium-free
copper-catalyzed Sonogashira cross-coupling of o-iodoacetanilide
derivatives with alkynes at room temperature; the corresponding
coupling products were obtained in good to excellent yields using
copper(I) iodide/N-methylpyrrolidine-2-carboxamide as
the catalyst. This inexpensive catalyst system has high tolerance towards
various functional groups in the substrates. This represents the
lowest reaction temperatures for copper-catalyzed Sonogashira cross-coupling
thus far.
Sonogashira reaction - cross-coupling - copper
catalysis - N,N-ligand - room temperature