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Updated: Jan 2, 2026

Imine Metathesis by Silica-Supported Catalysts Using the Methodology of Surface Organometallic Chemistry
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Transition-Metal-Free Activation of Amides by N-C Bond Cleavage
Guangchen Li1, Michal Szostak1
1Department of Chemistry, Rutgers University, 73 Warren Street, Newark, NJ 07102, United States.
Abstract:
The amide bond N-C activation represents a powerful strategy in organic synthesis to functionalize the historically inert amide linkage. This personal account highlights recent remarkable advances in transition-metal-free activation of amides by N-C bond cleavage, focusing on both (1) mechanistic aspects of ground-state-destabilization of the amide bond enabling formation of tetrahedral intermediates directly from amides with unprecedented selectivity, and (2) synthetic utility of the developed transformations. Direct nucleophilic addition to amides enables a myriad of powerful methods for the formation of C-C, C-N, C-O and C-S bonds, providing a straightforward and more synthetically useful alternative to acyl-metals.
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