Process for preparing substituted formamides

In the process for catalytically preparing a substituted formamide, which process comprises

• (A) bringing together, in an inert medium, under conditions suitable for reaction,
• (1) a compound represented by the structure ##STR2## where R and R.sub.1 are alkyl radicals of 1-8 carbon atoms, aryl radicals of 6-10 carbon atoms, aralkyl radicals of 7-10 carbon atoms or alkaryl radicals of 7-10 carbon atoms, and R.sub.1 can in addition be an alkyl radical containing a --N(CH.sub.3)R.sub.2 group in which R.sub.2 can be hydrogen, an alkyl radical of 1-8 carbon atoms, an aryl radical of 6-10 carbon atoms, an aralkyl radical of 7-10 carbon atoms or an alkaryl radical of 7-10 carbon atoms, with the provisos that R and R.sub.1 can be joined together to form an alkylene or azaalkylene group of 3-8 carbon atoms, and when R is alkyl or aralkyl, R.sub.1 can be hydrogen;
• (2) oxygen;
• and
• (3) a catalytically effective amount of a combination of
• (a) a soluble chloride, bromide or iodide of copper, cobalt, gold, iron, mercury, nickel, palladium, platinum, silver or zinc, and
• (b) a chloride, bromide, or iodide of sodium, potassium, lithium or ammonium, and then
• (B) recovering the substituted formamide product from the reaction mass, the improvement comprising including in the medium of (A) an effective amount of an adjunct which is one or more members selected from the group consisting of
• (1) a primary alkylamine whose alkyl group contains 4-12 carbon atoms,
• (2) urea or urea substituted with one or more alkyl radicals of 1-6 carbon atoms, and
• (3) thiourea or thiourea substituted with one or more alkyl radicals of 1-6 carbon atoms.