A Strategy for Improving the Efficiency of Boronic Acid Catalysis in the Synthesis of Amides

Abstract This study outlines the development of novel boronic acids as catalysts for the direct synthesis of amides from carboxylic acids and amines. The Lewis acidity of the boronic acids was estimated by means of computational techniques, and the observed increase in catalytic activity was corroborated by kinetic data derived from a model reaction. Our investigations led to the discovery of a set of ortho‐(sulfonyloxy)benzeneboronic acids that compared favorably with the established state‐of‐the‐art. These newly developed catalysts demonstrated efficacy in the coupling of aliphatic, aromatic, and heteroaromatic acids, as well as primary and secondary amines.