Amide
any derivative of an oxoacid in which a (possibly substituted) amino group replaces an acidic hydroxy group
In organic chemistry, an amide, also known as an organic amide or a carboxamide, is a compound with the general formula R−C(=O)−NR′R″, where R, R', and R″ represent any group, typically organyl groups or hydrogen atoms. The amide functional group plays an important role in the chemistry of life where, as peptide bonds, they link amino acids together to form proteins.
Amides can be viewed as a derivative of a carboxylic acid (R−C(=O)−OH) with the hydroxyl group (−OH) replaced by an amino group (−NR′R″); or, equivalently, an acyl (alkanoyl) group (R−C(=O)−) joined to an amino group.
Common amides are formamide (H−C(=O)−NH2), acetamide (H3C−C(=O)−NH2), benzamide (C6H5−C(=O)−NH2), and dimethylformamide (H−C(=O)−N(−CH3)2).
Amides are qualified as primary, secondary, and tertiary according to the number of acyl groups bounded to the nitrogen atom.
Nomenclature
The core −C(=O)−(N) of amides is called the amide group (specifically, carboxamide group).
In the usual nomenclature, one adds the term "amide" to the stem of the parent acid's name. For instance, the amide derived from acetic acid is named acetamide (CH3CONH2). IUPAC recommends ethanamide, but this and related formal names are rarely encountered. When the amide is derived from a primary or secondary amine, the substituents on nitrogen are indicated first in the name.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Amide” is any derivative of an oxoacid in which a (possibly substituted) amino group replaces an acidic hydroxy group. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Amide, derivative and oxoacid, not as a finished interpretation.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q188777. The Library of Congress control number is sh85004464. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Amide” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.