Amides

Amides are formed from the condensation reaction of carboxylic acids or acyl chlorides with ammonia or amines
Amides are common in nature such as in proteins where the amine and carboxylic acid groups of amino acids bond together
Amides have a general structure of RCONR₂

6-4-4-general-structure-of-an-amide

The general structure of an amide

Amides can be classified as primary, secondary or tertiary amides
Like amines, this is done as a comparison to ammonia, depending on the number of substitutions on the amide nitrogen
- Primary amide - one carbon bonded to the amide nitrogen
  - R' and R'' are both hydrogen atoms so one "ammonia" hydrogen has been substituted with the carbonyl group from the RCO portion of the molecule
- Secondary amide - two carbons bonded to the amide nitrogen (one MUST be the carbonyl carbon)
- Tertiary amide - three carbons bonded to the amide nitrogen (one MUST be the carbonyl carbon)

For primary amides, we simply add -amide to the stem name
- e.g. CH₃CONH₂
  - Contains two carbons with a C-C (ethan-) and an amide group (-amide)
  - This gives us ethanamide

For secondary amides, the alkyl chain attached to the nitrogen is added at the start of the chemical name
This alkyl chain is prefixed with N-
The chain containing the carbonyl group is named the same as a primary amide
- e.g. CH₃CONH(C₃H₇)
  - Contains a propyl group on the nitrogen (N-propyl)
  - Contains two carbons with a C-C (ethan-) and an amide group (-amide)
  - This gives us N-propylethanamide

Amides (OCR A Level Chemistry)