A mild and efficient method for the N-arylation of zwitterionic amino acids, amino acid esters and peptides is described. The procedure provides the first room temperature synthesis of N-arylated amino acids and peptides using CuI as a catalyst, diketone as a ligand, and aryl iodides as coupling partners. The method is equally applicable for using relatively inexpensive aryl bromides as coupling partners at 80 °C. Using this procedure, electronically and sterically diverse aryl halides, containing reactive functional groups were efficiently coupled in good to excellent yields.

In last three decades, only one new USFDA approved antifungal drug (echinocandin) was introduced into the clinics. The identification of new scaffolds with novel mechanisms of action is an important goal of current antifungal research. Herein, we describe the design, synthesis and in vitro antimicrobial activities of heterocycle-His(2-aryl)-Arg-NHBzl conjugates as a new structural class of peptidomimetics with promising antifungal activity against Cryptococcus neoformans (IC 50 values ranging between 2.13-14.57 μg mL À 1 ). The most potent analog, quinolinyl-His(2-tertbutylphenyl)-Arg-NHBzl (17 f) exhibited IC 50 and MIC values of 2.13 and 2.50 μg mL À 1 , respectively against C. neoformans.

Room Temperature N-Arylation of Amino Acids and Peptides Using Copper(I) and -Diketone. -A high yielding, general method for the N-arylation of zwitterionic amino acids, amino acid esters, and peptides is described. The chiral integrity of the synthesized amino acids remains intact during the mild catalytic transformation. -(SHARMA, K. K.; SHARMA, S.; KUDWAL, A.; JAIN*, R.; Org. Biomol. Chem. 13 (2015) 16, 4637-4641, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C5OB00288E ; Dep. Med. Chem., Natl. Inst. Pharm. Educ. Res., S.A.S. Nagar 160 062, Punjab, India; Eng.) -M. Paetzel 33-237