A completely atom-economical and redox-neutral catalytic amide synthesis from an alcohol and a nitrile is realized. The amide C-N bond is efficiently formed between the nitrogen atom of nitrile and the α-carbon of alcohol, with the help of an N-heterocyclic carbene-based ruthenium catalyst, without a single byproduct. A utility of the reaction was demonstrated by synthesizing (13)C or (15)N isotope-labeled amides without involvement of any separate reduction and oxidation step.

Oxidation of alcohols is an essential organic reaction, affording versatile carbonyl groups. To provide a sustainable solution for environmentally harmful traditional oxidation methods, the transition-metal catalyzed acceptor-free dehydrogenation of alcohols has attracted much attention. The widely used catalysts for the dehydrogenation reaction are based on precious metals, which are not economical and environmentally benign. We developed an operationally simple, economical, and environmentally benign acceptorless Fecatalyzed dehydrogenation of various secondary benzylic alcohols to afford the corresponding ketones and H 2 . A simple in situ mixture of readily available Fe(III) acetylacetonate, 1,10-phenanthroline, and K 2 CO 3 was identified as an active catalyst for this transformation.