Mild Oxidative One-Carbon Homologation of Aldehyde to Amide

One-carbon homologation of aldehyde into amide is realized in one-pot by its reaction with potassium alpha -(p-methoxyphenyl)-alpha -isocyano acetic acid and hydrochloride salt of dimethylamine in toluene at room temp. followed by acidic workup. In this multicomponent reaction, alpha -p-methoxyphenyl-alpha -isocyano acetic acid served as donor of the CONH2 function to aldehyde, while the dimethylamine acted as a shuttle mol. to initiate/terminate the sequence and to mediate the internal redox process of one of the three-component adducts. Ready accessibility, nominal cost of the reagents, and mild conditions are attractive features of the present method. [on SciFinder (R)]