Simple Conversion of Esters to Primary Amides Using Magnesium Nitride

Significance

A direct conversion of esters to primary amides is relatively difficult to perform, and, usually, a complicated three-step sequence is required to effect this transformation. The use of readily available and easy-to-handle magnesium nitride offers an elegant and quite convenient one-step solution for this problem. The reaction gives good yields even with difficult substrates like tert-butyl α,β-unsaturated esters.