N-heterocyclic carbene-catalyzed amidation of unactivated esters with amino alcohols.
[reaction: see text] A catalytic amidation of unactivated esters with amino alcohols is described. A series of solution studies in addition to the first X-ray structure of a carbene-alcohol complex support a carbene-base nucleophile activation mechanism.
Movassaghi
Mohammad
M
Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
Schmidt
Michael A
MA