Ni-mediated C–N activation of amides and derived catalytic transformations

Amide, as a ubiquitous functional group, is essential in various aspects of chemistry and biology. Although the history of studying amide is rich and fruitful, the synthetic application of amide is very limited due to the inertness of amide C–N bond. Recently,significant advances have been achieved towards the nickel-mediated C–N activation of amides. This approach allows a facile generation of acyl-nickel intermediates, and a number of unique transformations have been designed and realized based on the amide C–N bond activation. Focused on the catalytic transformation, this review summarizes and categorizes the recent advances on the synthetic applications of Ni-mediated C–N bond activation of amides.