Efficient Copper‐Catalyzed Synthesis of Poly‐N‐Heterocycles Containing Amino Acid Residues

An efficient copper-catalyzed method has been developed for the synthesis of poly-N-heterocycles containing amino acid residues. The protocol uses readily available 2-halobenzamides containing amino acids and their methyl esters, substituted phenylacetonitriles, and malononitrile as the starting materials and the reactions were performed well under mild conditions. The method should provide a novel and useful strategy for synthesis of N-heterocyclic compounds.