Tetramic acids and indole derivatives from amino acid β-keto esters. Fine-tuning the conditions of the key Cu-catalyzed reaction

1,3,5-Trisubstituted tetramic acids and 2,3-disubstituted indole derivatives were prepared from β-keto esters derived from amino acids by their reaction with iodophenyl-2-trifluoroacetylamine under Cu-catalysis. Both heterocyclic systems were generated from the same starting materials by choice of the appropriate reaction conditions.