Ag-Catalyzed Tandem Three-Component Reaction toward the Synthesis of Multisubstituted Imidazoles.

A facile one-pot, Ag-catalyzed tandem three-component reaction of amidines, ynals, and carboxylic acids or amines to form imidazole skeletons has been developed. This multicomponent reaction has been applied to various substituted amidines and carboxylic acids substrates, affording the products in good yields. The strategy could provide an efficient and green molecular fragment assembly to access imidazoles.