Formamidation of a wide range of substituted and functionalized amines with CO and a base

Current methods for preparing formamides are limited by the narrow substrate scope and requirement for harsh reaction conditions. A base-mediated formamidation of amines with CO (<2 bar) under mild conditions was developed, which enabled the synthesis of a wide range of formamides in 61% to 98% yields under transition-metal-free conditions. This provides a useful strategy for generating gram amounts of various aromatic and aliphatic amides.

Automated summary

A new method for synthesizing various formamides has been developed, which does not require harsh reaction conditions and can yield high amounts of products. This is of great importance for the synthesis of gram-scale aromatic and aliphatic amides.