Boric acid-grafted biochar (BoAB) for the direct amidation of carboxylic acids and amines

Abstract

Amidation is a cornerstone for a plethora of industrially and biologically relevant molecules, yet conventional methods often suffer from inefficiency and poor atom economy. In response, we introduce boric acid-grafted biochar (BoAB) for the synthesis of amides from unactivated acids and amines under mild conditions. BoAB, derived from biomass, offers sustainability, and recyclability with its bifunctional design to produce amides in high yields across diverse substrates. The catalyst showed good turnover with minimal degradation over several reaction cycles.