Progresses of weinreb amides in organic synthesis

Abstract

N-Methoxy-N-methylamides, now popularly called Weinreb amides (WAs) after their discovery, have surfaced as amides with a difference. This amide has served as an excellent acylating agent for organolithium or organomagnesium reagents and as an effective equivalent for an aldehyde group. These two aspects have been exploited exhaustively in many synthetic strategies. The growing synthetic utility and preparation of the Weinreb amides are reviewed.