New, general, and practical preparation of methyl ketones via the direct coupling of amides with CH2Cl2 promoted by TiCl4/Mg

The direct coupling of a variety of amides with CH2Cl2 or CD2Cl2 promoted by TiCl4/Mg/THF provides an extremely simple, practical, selective, and efficient approach for the construction of methyl ketones. The efficiency and practicability of this chemistry is illustrated by the very simple synthesis of deuterated methyl ketones.