Aliphatic amides have been prepared in moderate to good yields (30–70%) by treatment in THF of magnesium halide carboxylates with amines in the presence of 2.5 equivalents of alkylmagnesium halide. The reaction is rapid (< 30 min) and has been successfully applied to the synthesis of amides labelled with carbon-11 (β+, t½: 20.4 min).[11C] Aliphatic amides have been obtained in 15–60% radiochemical yields [decay corrected to end of ...