A NEW ENZYMATIC ONE-POT PROCEDURE FOR THE SYNTHESIS OF CARBOXYLIC AMIDES FROM CARBOXYLIC-ACIDS

An efficient enzymatic procedure is described for the one-pot conversi on of carboxylic acids to the corresponding amides via in situ formati on of the ester and subsequent ammoniolysis. The procedure was optimiz ed for the formation of octanamide from octanoic acid via butyl octano ate. It is best performed with lipase SP525 from Candida antarctica B immobilized on Accurel EP100 as catalyst with two equivalents of n-but anol in t-amyl alcohol as solvent. The resulting octanamide was isolat ed in 93% yield. The one-pot procedure was also applied to oleic acid, which resulted in the isolation of oleamide in 90% yield.