Amidst the green Metal-catalyzed amide formation from carboxylic acids

Abstract: This thesis describes novel methods for transition metal-catalyzed transformation of non-activated carboxylic acids to amides. It was found that 2-10 mol% of zirconium(IV) chloride or 10-20 mol% titanium(IV) isopropoxide catalyzed the formation of a range of secondary and tertiary amides in good to excellent yields (61-99%) in THF at 70-100°C, with molecular sieves present as water scavengers. The protocols proved to be suitable for gram scale preparation of amides, where a straight-forward work-up procedure was used for the isolation of the amide products. Furthermore, it was found that ammonium carbamates were suitable equivalents for gaseous ammonia and dimethylamine, in the group (IV) metal-catalyzed amidation of structurally different carboxylic acids, resulting in good to excellent yields (61-99%) of primary and N,N-dimethyl amides.