A new facet of amide synthesis by tandem acceptorless dehydrogenation of amines and oxygen transfer of DMSO

•The first example of amide preparation by a tandem reaction of bimetallic cooperative catalytic amine acceptorless dehydrogenation and oxygen transfer of DMSO.•A plausible amide formation mechanism in which one Ru center combines with N atom of the mine and the other coordinate with the S atom of DMSO to enhance the transfer of oxygen of DMSO to amine to give amide has been proposed,•The role of DMSO was successfully demonstrated with the help of NMR, HRMS, IR, and D- and 18O-isotopic labelling studies.•Higher catalytic activity and selectivity, good functional groups tolerance.