CuII‐Catalyzed Oxidative Formation of 5‐Alkynyltriazoles

Abstract In an alcoholic solvent under the catalysis of Cu(OAc) 2 ⋅H 2 O, organic azide and terminal alkyne could oxidatively couple to afford 5‐alkynyl‐1,2,3‐triazole (alkynyltriazole) at room temperature under an atmosphere of O 2 in a few hours. The involvement of 1,5‐diazabicyclo[4.3.0]non‐5‐ene (DBN) is essential, without which the redox neutral coupling instead proceeds to produce 5‐H‐1,2,3‐triazole (protiotriazole) as the major product. Therefore, DBN switches the redox neutral coupling between terminal alkyne and organic azide, the copper‐catalyzed “click” reaction to afford protiotriazole, to an oxidation reaction that results in alkynyltriazole. The organic base DBN is effective in accelerating the copper(II)‐catalyzed oxidation of terminal alkyne or copper(I) acetylide, which is intercepted by an organic azide to produce alkynyltriazole. The proposed mechanistic model suggests that the selectivity between alkynyl‐ and protiotriazole, and other acetylide or triazolide oxidation products is determined by the competition between copper(I)‐catalyzed redox neutral cycloaddition and copper(II)/O 2 ‐mediated acetylide oxidation after the formation of copper(I) acetylide.