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Updated: Jun 9, 2026

Computation of Atmospheric Concentrations of Molecular Clusters from ab initio Thermochemistry
Published on: April 8, 2020
Aspects of the atmospheric chemistry of amides
Ian Barnes1, Geraldine Solignac, Abdelwahid Mellouki
1Fachbereich C-Physikalische Chemie, Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Gauss-Strasse 20, 42119 Wuppertal, Germany. barnes@uni-wuppertal.de
Abstract:
The gas-phase reactions of six amides, formamide, N-methyl formamide, N,N-dimethyl formamide, acetamide, N-methyl acetamide and N,N-dimethyl acetamide with the atmospheric oxidants OH radicals and Cl atoms, but in a number of cases also with NO(3) radicals and ozone, are presented and discussed. Kinetic and mechanistic information available from previous experimental work is combined with new kinetic and product information from this study, obtained in a photoreactor using in situ FTIR spectrometry, to elucidate the gas-phase photooxidation mechanisms of the amides and assess potential environmental implications.
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Preparation of Amides
The DCC-promoted synthesis of amides begins with the protonation of DCC by carboxylic acid. The protonation makes it a better acceptor. Next, the addition of carboxylate to the protonated carbodiimide gives a reactive acylating agent.
Subsequently, the amine acts as a nucleophile that attacks the acylating agent to form a tetrahedral intermediate. In the...
Amines to Amides: Acylation of Amines
Next, the second equivalent of amine serves as a Brønsted base and deprotonates the quaternary amide...
Structure of Amines
Nomenclature of Carboxylic Acid Derivatives: Amides and Nitriles
The IUPAC and common names of amides are derived from the parent carboxylic acid, by replacing the suffix “oic acid” and “ic acid,” respectively, with “amide.” In the following example, the IUPAC name ethanamide is derived from ethanoic acid, and the common name, acetamide, is obtained from acetic acid.
Acid Halides to Amides: Aminolysis
In the first step of the aminolysis mechanism, the amine attacks the carbonyl carbon of the acyl chloride to form a tetrahedral intermediate. In the second step, the carbonyl group is re-formed with the elimination of a chloride...
Structures of Carboxylic Acid Derivatives
Carboxylic acid derivatives contain an acyl group attached to a heteroatom such as chlorine, oxygen, or nitrogen. The carbonyl carbon and oxygen are both sp2-hybridized with an unhybridized p orbital.
The three sp2 orbitals of the carbonyl carbon form three σ bonds, one each with the carbonyl oxygen, the α carbon, and the heteroatom, whereas the other two sp2 orbitals of the carbonyl oxygen are occupied by the lone pairs. Further, the unhybridized p...

