Efficient copper-catalyzed Michael addition of acrylic derivatives with primary alcohols in the presence of base.

A novel and efficient copper-catalyzed Michael addition of acrylic derivatives with primary alcohols in the presence of base has been developed. The protocol uses readily available acrylic derivatives and primary alcohols as the starting materials, inexpensive CuCl(2) as the catalyst, and the corresponding addition products were obtained in moderate to excellent yields.