Iron-Catalyzed N, N-formyl Ethylation of Amines

In organic synthesis, formamides are the most abundant class of compounds owing to their importance as the building blocks in synthetic and industrial organic chemistry. Formamides are also one of the most valuable intermediates produced in drug synthesis and act as precursors for the synthesis of therapeutically-relevant molecules. Here, we developed a simple, practical, and catalytic methodology for the N-formylation of a wide variety of amines by using iron as a catalyst. This protocol features an inexpensive iron catalyst, short reaction time, mild reaction conditions, good yields, easy workup, and tolerance of a wide variety of functional groups.