Preparation of one-carbon homologated amides from aldehydes or primary alcohols

Org Lett. 2014 Mar 21;16(6):1602-5. doi: 10.1021/ol500200n. Epub 2014 Mar 5.

Abstract

Aldehydes and primary alcohols can be converted to one-carbon homologated primary, secondary, or tertiary amides in two operational steps. The approach offers several unique features including compatibility with (hetero)aryl, alkyl, alkenyl, and racemizable chiral substrates, the ability to prepare Weinreb amides from aryl and unhindered aliphatic substrates, and the opportunity to employ unprotected amino acids as amine sources in the amidation step.