Acceptorless dehydrogenative synthesis of primary amides from alcohols and ammonia.

ABSTRACT: The highly desirable synthesis of the widely-used primary amides directly from alcohols and ammonia via acceptorless dehydrogenative coupling represents a clean, atom-economical, sustainable process. Nevertheless, such a reaction has not been previously reported, and the existing catalytic systems instead generate other N-containing products, e.g., amines, imines and nitriles. Herein, we demonstrate an efficient and selective ruthenium-catalyzed synthesis of primary amides from alcohols and ammonia gas, accompanied by H₂ liberation. Various aliphatic and aromatic primary amides were synthesized in high yields, with no observable N-containing byproducts. The selectivity of this system toward primary amide formation is rationalized through density functional theory (

SUBMITTER: Luo J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8966752 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature