Although the amide bond is one of the most ubiquitous in chemistry, a simple method for its synthesis has yet to be developed. Literary precedent for amide synthesis involves Bronsted-Lowry acids or bases, heavy metal catalysts, or other strong Lewis bases that are expensive, require inert conditions, or produce caustic byproducts. Our laboratory has developed a simple, one-pot method for the direct amidation of esters using secondary amines and thiourea derivatives as an organocatalyst. This poster will focus on our efforts in performing direct amidation of both straight chain and conjugated esters using secondary amines in good yields and purity. Preliminary results show that both the rate and percent conversion to form the amide is enhanced when a thiourea (hydrogen bonding) catalyst is used in the reaction. This poster will focus on the method development examining the role of catalyst structure, solvent, and substrate presented.

Novel method for the direct amidation of esters using thiourea catalysts

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.