Patent ID: 7759487

Claim:
A process for preparing a ketone amide of formula 5′: where R 1 is a substituent selected from alkyl, aryl, cycloalkyl, heteroaryl and heterocyclyl substituents, with the proviso that R 1 does not contain a primary or secondary amine, said process comprising: (i) reacting in an acetonitrile reaction solvent a carboxylic acid of formula 1: with a chlorinating reagent for substituting a chlorine atom for a hydroxy radical in the carboxylic acid, utilizing a catalyst and a non-protic solvent to produce a first solution of the acid chloride of formula 2: (ii) separately preparing a multiphase reaction medium with a concentrated aqueous salt phase comprising a buffer system with K 3 PO 4 and K 2 HPO 4 and an organic phase comprising acetonitrile solvent and the compound of formula 3: and adding said first solution of the acid chloride to said reaction medium to yield the ketone amide of formula 5′: