Copper(I)-catalyzed reaction of diaryl buta-1,3-diynes with cyclic amines: an atom-economic approach to amino-substituted naphthalene derivatives

1,4-Diaryl-1,3-butadiynes react with cyclic amines, such as pyrrolidine, piperidine, and morpholine in the presence of a catalytic amount of CuCl to afford amino-substituted naphthalene derivatives with good to high yields. The new catalytic procedure provides an atom-economic, one-pot synthetic method for the synthesis of naphthalene derivatives from easily available 1,4-diaryl-1,3-butadiynes.