Aldehydes and primary alcohols can be converted to one-carbon homologated primary, secondary, or tertiary amides in two operational steps. The approach offers several unique features including compatibility with (hetero)aryl, alkyl, alkenyl, and racemizable chiral substrates, the ability to prepare Weinreb amides from aryl and unhindered aliphatic substrates, and the opportunity to employ unprotected amino acids as amine sources in the amidation step.

Versatile trichloromethyl carbinols can be prepared in one pot from primary alcohols by treatment with Dess–Martin periodinane (DMP) in CHCl3 followed by introduction of commercially available 1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene (TBD). A modification of the method was used to convert chiral primary alcohol (R)-(−)-2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolane-4-methanol to the corresponding trichloromethyl carbinol with complete stereochemical fidelity, despite the reactant proceeding through a base-sensitive aldehyde intermediate.