Polyoxometalate Ionic Liquid-Catalyzed Ritter Reaction for Efficient Synthesis of Amides

A series of polyoxometalate-ionic liquid catalysts that combine the features of polyoxometalate and ionic liquid with the introduce of acidity and miscibility have been developed to promote the Ritter reaction. Among them, [BSmim]CuPW12O40 displays the highest activity for the amidation of a variety of alcohols with nitriles, delivering the corresponding amide products in good to excellent yields. Furthermore, it can be easily scaled up to the gram scale without losing efficiency. Hence, this process provides an appealing way to prepare amides from the Ritter reaction by using polyoxometalate-ionic liquid based catalysts.