Hafnium-Catalyzed Direct Amide Formation at Room Temperature

Herein, the first example of a metal-catalyzed protocol for direct amidation of nonactivated carboxylic acids at ambient temperature (26 °C) is presented. The mild reaction conditions give rise to high yields of a range of amides in reaction times as short as 90 min, employing a commercial hafnium complex, [Hf­(Cp)₂Cl₂], as catalyst. Amino acids are transformed into their corresponding amides without racemization, and the catalyst displays full selectivity for the amidation of carboxylic acids over esters. Electronic properties of the carboxylic acids were found to have a strong influence on the rate of the amidation reaction, and the need for a balanced amount of molecular sieves was observed to be highly important for optimal reaction outcome