The Growing Synthetic Utility of the Weinreb Amide

Abstract

N-Methoxy-N-methylamide, popularly addressed as the Weinreb amide, has surfaced as an amide with a difference. This amide has served as an excellent acylating agent for organolithium or organomagnesium reagents and as a robust equivalent for an aldehyde group. These two aspects have been exploited exhaustively in various synthetic endeavors. This review presents the growing synthetic utility of the Weinreb amide not only in academic circles, but also its popular use on kilogram scale by various pharmaceutical industries across the globe.