Copper(I)-Catalysed Multicomponent Reaction: Straightforward Access to 5-Hydroxy-1H-pyrrol-2(5H)-ones

A copper-catalysed multicomponent coupling reaction between readily available (Z)-3-iodoacrylic acids, terminal alkynes, and primary amines was developed to smoothly access a small library of 5-hydroxy-1H-pyrrol-2(5H)-ones in good yields. This practical and general process was applied to a short-steps synthesis of the natural product pulchellalactam.