A metal-free approach for transamidation of amides with amines in aqueous media

Palladium-Catalyzed Chelation-Assisted Aldehyde C-H Bond Activation of Quinoline-8-carbaldehydes: Synthesis of Amides from Aldehydes with Anilines and Other Amines

A palladium-catalyzed chelation-assisted direct aldehyde C-H bond amidation of quinoline-8-carbaldehydes with an amine was developed under mild reaction conditions. A wide range of amides were obtained in good to excellent yields from aldehyde with a variety of aniline derivatives and aliphatic amines. Our methodology was successfully applied to synthesize known DNA intercalating agents and can be easily scaled up to a gram scale.

Microwave-assisted chemoselective transamidation of secondary amides by selective N-C(O) bond cleavage under catalyst, additive and solvent-free conditions

A microwave-assisted, highly chemoselective protocol has been developed for the transamidation of tert-butyloxycarbonyl (Boc) activated secondary carboxamides with amines. Under non-conventional microwave techniques, the reactions were achieved under catalyst, additive, promoter and solvent-free conditions. The transamidation of a structurally diverse set of amides and amines was accomplished in good to excellent yields. The salient features of the developed methodology include a simple operation, broad substrate scope, functional group tolerance, practicality, and the scalability.

Exploiting the Marcus inverted region for first-row transition metal-based photoredox catalysis

Second- and third-row transition metal complexes are widely employed in photocatalysis, whereas earth-abundant first-row transition metals have found only limited use because of the prohibitively fast decay of their excited states. We report an unforeseen reactivity mode for productive photocatalysis that uses cobalt polypyridyl complexes as photocatalysts by exploiting Marcus inverted region behavior that couples increases in excited-state energies with increased excited-state lifetimes. These cobalt (III) complexes can engage in bimolecular reactivity by virtue of their strong redox potentials and sufficiently long excited-state lifetimes, catalyzing oxidative C(sp2)-N coupling of aryl amides with challenging sterically hindered aryl boronic acids. More generally, the results imply that chromophores can be designed to increase excited-state lifetimes while simultaneously increasing excited-state energies, providing a pathway for the use of relatively abundant metals as photoredox catalysts.

The recent advances in K2S2O8-mediated cyclization/coupling reactions via an oxidative transformation

Recently the K₂S₂O₈ mediated cyclization/coupling reactions to construct carbon–carbon/carbon–heteroatom bond via oxidative transformation is became much interesting in organic synthesis.

Palladium-catalyzed oxidative amidation of quinoxalin-2(1H)-ones with acetonitrile: a highly efficient strategy toward 3-amidated quinoxalin-2(1H)-ones

A novel and convenient palladium-catalyzed direct oxidative amidation of quinoxalin-2(1H)-ones with acetonitrile was developed to synthesize 3-amidated quinoxalin-2(1H)-ones. A series of 3-acetamino quinoxalin-2(1H)-one derivatives were constructed with good to excellent yields. This methodology provided a practical approach to various 3-acetamino quinoxalin-2(1H)-ones from the readily available starting material acetonitrile.

Consecutive Lossen rearrangement/transamidation reaction of hydroxamic acids under catalyst- and additive-free conditions

The Lossen rearrangement is a classic process for transforming activated hydroxamic acids into isocyanate under basic or thermal conditions. In the current report we disclosed a consecutive Lossen rearrangement/transamidation reaction in which unactivated hydroxamic acids were converted into N-substituted formamides in a one-pot manner under catalyst- and additive-free conditions. One feature of this novel transformation is that the formamide plays triple roles in the reaction by acting as a readily available solvent, a promoter for additive-free Lossen rearrangement, and a source of the formyl group in the final products. Acyl groups other than formyl could also be introduced into the product when changing the solvent to other low molecular weight aliphatic amide derivatives. The solvent-promoted Lossen rearrangement was better understood by DFT calculations, and the intermediacy of isocyanate and amine was supported well by experiments, in which the desired products were obtained in excellent yields under similar conditions. Not only monosubstituted formamides were synthesized from hydroxamic acids, but also N,N-disubstituted formamides were obtained when secondary amines were used as precursors.

Eco-Friendly Syntheses of 2-Substituted Benzoxazoles and 2-Substituted Benzothiazoles from 2-Aminophenols, 2-Aminothiophenols and DMF Derivatives in the Presence of Imidazolium Chloride

A simple, economical and metal-free approach to the synthesis of 2-substituted benzoxazoles and 2-substituted benzothiazoles from 2-aminophenols, 2-aminothiophenols and DMF derivatives, only using imidazolium chloride (50% mmol) as promoter without any other additive, was reported. Various 2-substituted benzoxazoles and 2-substituted benzothiazoles were thus prepared in moderate to excellent yields.

Direct Transamidation Reactions: Mechanism and Recent Advances

Amides are undeniably some of the most important compounds in Nature and the chemical industry, being present in biomolecules, materials, pharmaceuticals and many other substances. Unfortunately, the traditional synthesis of amides suffers from some important drawbacks, principally the use of stoichiometric activators or the need to use highly reactive carboxylic acid derivatives. In recent years, the transamidation reaction has emerged as a valuable alternative to prepare amides. The reactivity of amides makes their direct reaction with nitrogen nucleophiles difficult; thus, the direct transamidation reaction needs a catalyst in order to activate the amide moiety and to promote the completion of the reaction because equilibrium is established. In this review, we present research on direct transamidation reactions ranging from studies of the mechanism to the recent developments of more applicable and versatile methodologies, emphasizing those reactions involving activation with metal catalysts.

Recent Developments in Amide Synthesis Using Nonactivated Starting Materials

Amides are unquestionably one of the most important functional groups in organic chemistry because of their presence in numerous interesting molecules such as peptides, pharmaceutical agents, naturally occurring molecules, proteins and alkaloids, among others. This synopsis surveys the diverse recent approaches to amide synthesis from nonactivated carboxylic acids and derivatives as well as noncarboxylic compounds, highlighting the most innovative methodologies and those that are more eco-friendly compared to traditional methods while focusing on recent developments during the past two years.

Nonclassical Routes for Amide Bond Formation

The present review offers an overview of nonclassical (e.g., with no pre- or in situ activation of a carboxylic acid partner) approaches for the construction of amide bonds. The review aims to comprehensively discuss relevant work, which was mainly done in the field in the last 20 years. Organization of the data follows a subdivision according to substrate classes: catalytic direct formation of amides from carboxylic and amines ( section 2 ); the use of carboxylic acid surrogates ( section 3 ); and the use of amine surrogates ( section 4 ). The ligation strategies (NCL, Staudinger, KAHA, KATs, etc.) that could involve both carboxylic acid and amine surrogates are treated separately in section 5 .

DMSO/I2 mediated C–C bond cleavage of α-ketoaldehydes followed by C–O bond formation: a metal-free approach for one-pot esterification

One-pot I₂/DMSO mediated metal-free C–C bond cleavage of aryl-/heteroaryl- or aliphatic α-ketoaldehydes offering a carboxylic acid followed by esterification is presented.