Metal-free oxidative amide formation with N-hydroxysuccinimide and hypervalent iodine reagents

An oxidative amide formation using N-hydroxysuccinimide and hypervalent iodine reagents was developed. The method enables a wide range of aldehydes and amines to be coupled under mild reaction conditions providing amide in good to excellent yield. The radical species in the reaction mixture was observed for the first time using ESR measurement, and along with other mechanistic investigations, a plausible mechanism of the reaction was proposed.