Direct Phenolysis Reactions of Unactivated Amides into Phenolic Esters Promoted by a Heterogeneous CeO Catalyst.

The direct catalytic esterification of amides that leads to the construction of C-O bonds through the cleavage of amide C-N bonds is a highly attractive strategy in organic synthesis. While aliphatic and aromatic alcohols can be readily used for the alcoholysis of activated and unactivated amides, the introduction of phenols is more challenging due to their lower nucleophilicity in the phenolysis of unactivated amides. Herein, we demonstrate that phenols can be used for the phenolysis of unactivated amides into the corresponding phenolic esters using a simple heterogenous catalytic system based on CeO under additive-free reaction conditions.

Selective Transformations of Triglycerides into Fatty Amines, Amides, and Nitriles by using Heterogeneous Catalysis.

The use of triglycerides as an important class of biomass is an effective strategy to realize a more sustainable society. Herein, three heterogeneous catalytic methods are reported for the selective one-pot transformation of triglycerides into value-added chemicals: i) the reductive amination of triglycerides into fatty amines with aqueous NH under H promoted by ZrO -supported Pt clusters; ii) the amidation of triglycerides under gaseous NH catalyzed by high-silica H-beta (Hβ) zeolite at 180 °C; iii) the Hβ-promoted synthesis of nitriles from triglycerides and gaseous NH at 220 °C. These methods are widely applicable to the transformation of various triglycerides (C -C skeletons) into the corresponding amines, amides, and nitriles.