A novel and highly efficient copper‐catalyzed intramolecular cyclization reaction of 2‐iodoanilines with nitriles for the synthesis of benzimidazoles with l‐proline as the ligand has been developed. A variety of substituted benzimidazole derivatives can be synthesized with high yields using this approach. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Experimental sectionGeneral Methods.All starting materials were purchased from commercial sources and used without further treatment.Melting points were determined on a Thomas Hoover capillary apparatus and were uncorrected.All known compounds are identified by appropriate technique such as 1 H NMR and compared with previously reported data. 1 H NMR (500 MHz) was recorded on a Bruker 500 spectrometer with tetramethylsilane (TMS) as an internal standard. Mass spectra were recorded on an Agilent technologies 6110 quadrupole LC/MS equipped with an electrospray ionization (ESI) probe operating in positive ion mode. Analytical thin layer chromatography (TLC) was performed on precoated silica gel 60 F254 plates. Yields refer to the isolated yields of the products after

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Stable copper(0) nanoparticles supported on chromium (Cu(0)/Cr2O3) are prepared from the composite precursor copper chromium hydrotalcite. The resulting Cu(0)/Cr2O3 catalyst is first used in the selective dehydrogenation of alcohols to aldehydes. More impressively, these dehydrogenations are performed without oxidants and yields of products are high. The stability of Cu(0)/Cr2O3 is also assessed by studying its recoverability and reusability for up to five cycles. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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