Iron-Catalyzed Oxidative Amidation of Tertiary Amines with Aldehydes

Unconventional couple: A new oxidative coupling protocol for amide bond formation has been developed (see scheme). The method provides an efficient and practical route for the synthesis of tertiary amides from readily available tertiary amines and aldehydes in the presence of a simple FeCl2 catalyst. Mechanistic studies indicated that a peroxide and an iminium ion act as the reactive intermediates in this oxidative amidation.