Dehydrogenative Cross-Coupling Reaction by Cooperative Transition-Metal and Bronsted Acid Catalysis for the Synthesis of β-Quinolinyl α-Amino Acid Esters

A novel dehydrogenative cross-coupling (DCC) reaction between methylquinoline derivatives and N-aryl glycine esters was developed by a cooperative catalysis of copper salt and Bronsted acid, affording an efficient synthesis of beta-quinolinyl alpha-amino acid esters. A plausible mechanism using a proton to activate the methylquinoline derivative and copper(II) to activate N-aryl glycine ester has been proposed.