Silver acetate-assisted formation of amides from acyl chlorides

[Display omitted] •We developed a mild and high-yielding method for the amide bond formation.•The use of silver acetate assists the acylation of amines by acyl chlorides.•Amides are isolated without chromatography; optical configurations are maintained.•N-Nosyl-amino acid chlorides are easily transformed into amides and dipeptides.•Peptide bonds are created also using N-methyl-N-nosyl-amino acid chlorides. A mild method for the aminolysis of carboxylic acid chlorides to give amides is disclosed. Reactions are carried out in the presence of silver acetate in non-aqueous environments under heterogeneous phase conditions. Amides are easily recovered in very good to excellent yields and without racemization. The approach is successful in forming peptide bonds starting from N-(4-nitrobenzenesulfonyl)-amino acid chlorides and allows the formation of dipeptides also when N-methylated amino acid derivatives are used.