Mechanistic Analysis and Development of Direct and Catalysed Coupling of Carboxylic Acids with Amines. Disentangling the Enigma

一些胺-酸组合从直接脱水偶合生成酰胺的能力表明，在这个反应中还发生了其他未知的相互作用。由于存在多个未经证实的假说，这一过程的机制还没有得到很好的理解。同样，以这种方式反应的胺-酸对改变反应动力学的化学专一性的影响也不清楚。这项研究项目将应用完整的物理有机工具箱来研究这些神秘的过程，以提供一些对潜在机制的洞察。由此获得的信息将被应用于制定新的最佳条件、催化剂和工艺，以便从胺和酸中高效地、‘清洁’地生成酰胺。

The ability of some amine-acid combinations to generate amides from direct dehydrative coupling suggests there are other interactions occurring in this reaction which are unidentified. The mechanism of this process is not well understood with multiple unproven hypotheses. Similarly the influence of chemical specificity of the amine-acid pairs that react in this way altering the reaction kinetics are also unclear. This research project will apply the full physical organic toolbox to investigate these enigmatic processes to provide some insight into the underlying mechanism. The resulting information learned will be applied to formulate new optimum conditions catalysts and processes for efficient and 'clean' amide generation from amines and acids.