One-step Conversion of Amides and Esters to Acid Chlorides with PCl3

A general and efficient iodine-promoted chlorination of amides and esters with phosphorus trichloride is described. For the first time. Various inactivated amides including secondary and tertiary amides were directly converted to the corresponding acid chlorides in one-step. The substrate scope of methyl esters including aromatic and aliphatic esters was also explored under this system. This method is simple, scalable and wide in scope, which provides an approach to preparation of these acid chlorides.