Direct amidation of non-activated phenylacetic acid and benzylamine derivatives catalysed by NiCl 2

Abstract

This paper describes an eco-friendly and efficient direct amidation of benzylamine and phenylacetic acid derivatives in the presence of 10 mol% NiCl 2 as catalyst without any drying agent. For the different phenylacetic acid and benzylamine derivatives, the direct catalysed amidation gave moderate-to-excellent yields in toluene. The steric and electronic effects of substituent groups on the phenyl ring of acid were crucial to the yields of the direct amidation. The catalyst NiCl 2 can be recycled three times without loss of activity.