HCl-mediated transamidation of unactivated formamides using aromatic amines in aqueous media

Abstract

We report transamidation protocol to synthesize a range of secondary and tertiary amides from weakly nucleophilic aromatic and hetero-aryl amines with low reactive formamide derivatives, utilizing hydrochloric acid as catalyst. This current acid mediated strategy is beneficial because it eliminates the need for a metal catalyst, promoter or additives in the reaction, simplifies isolation and purification. Notably, this approach conventionally used to synthesize molecules on gram scales with excellent yields and a high tolerance for functional groups.