Simple copper salt-catalyzed N-arylation of nitrogen-containing heterocycles with aryl and heteroaryl halides.

Relatively mild and highly efficient CuI-catalyzed N-arylation procedures for nitrogen-containing heterocycles (e.g., imidazoles, benzimidazoles, pyrroles, pyrazoles, indoles, triazoles, etc.) with aryl and heteroaryl halides have been developed. The protocols can be performed easily and tolerate a number of functional groups, such as ester, nitrile, nitro, ketone, free hydroxyl, and free primary amine on the aryl halide.