A green synthesis method-nitrile hydration to synthesize amide

Amide compounds which are closely related to people's clothing, food, shelter, and transportation play an important role in people's daily production and life. Therefore, exploring and improving the synthesis of amide compounds is one of the topics that researchers have focused on in recent years. The hydration of nitriles to amides is an environmental-friendly and 100% atom economic method. Among the reported nitrile hydration catalytic systems, metal complexes have attracted considerable attention due to their high catalytic activity, excellent selectivity, mild reaction conditions, and tunability of catalytic performance at a molecular level. In this paper, we summarize the recent progress in the synthesis of metal complex catalysts and understanding of the catalytic mechanism, which provides a basis for the industrialization of metal complex catalysts.