Abstract

The name of Conrad Willgerodt is associated with a group of closely related reactions which have a common feature the conversion of a carbonyl compound into an amide with the same number of carbon atoms. The original process involved The Reaction">the reaction of an appropriately substituted alkyl aryl ketone with an aqueous solution of yellow ammonium polysulfide at an elevated temperature to form an aryl-substituted aliphatic acid amide, together with a smaller amount of the corresponding ammonium salt of the carboxylic acid. The Kindler variation promises to be more useful. It consists of heating a ketone with approximately equimolecular amounts of sulfur and dry amine.