Chemoselective hydration of nitriles to amides using hydrated ionic liquid (IL) tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (TBAH) as a green catalyst

A transition metal-free process, catalyzed by tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (TBAH), has been developed for the convenient and selective hydration of nitriles to the corresponding amides. The present process converts aromatic, aliphatic, and heteroaromatic nitriles with a wide variety of functional groups into amides. The regioselective hydration of one nitrile moiety in the presence of another nitrile group gives the present protocol high impact.