Aerobic oxidative transformation of primary alcohols and amines to amides promoted by a hydroxyapatite-supported gold catalyst in water

In the presence of an easily prepared hydroxyapatite-supported gold catalyst, namely Au/HAP, various kinds of structurally diverse primary alcohols including benzylic and aliphatic ones, and amines involving aromatic and secondary ones could be converted into the corresponding amides in water with up to 99% yield. Meanwhile, on the basis of experimental observations and literatures, a plausible reaction pathway was described to elucidate the reaction mechanism.