This study reports a carbonylative acetylation for the
synthesis
of N-phenyl-N-(pyridin-2-yl)acetamides
using N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF)
as a methyl source and CO as a carbonyl source. Interestingly, dimethyl
sulfoxide (DMSO) can be also used as a methyl source when using only
DMSO as the solvent. Mechanistic studies using DMSO-d
6 revealed that the methyl group was derived from the
methyl group of DMF instead of DMSO when using DMF and DMSO as a mixed
solvent. These results indicated that DMF was a preferential methyl
source.