MILD AND EFFICIENT CONVERSION OF NITRILES TO AMIDES WITH BASIC UREA-HYDROGEN PEROXIDE ADDUCT

The urea-hydrogen peroxide adduct, an inexpensive, stable and easily handled reagent has shown utility for mild and efficient transformation of nitriles into the corresponding aliphatic or aromatic amides. Reaction proceeds in aqueous acetone, within 0.5-2.5h, in the presence of catalytic amount of K2CO3, at room temperature.