A number of physiologically active substances having oxidized amide bonds have been found from microbial sources, while various hydroxamic acids have been prepared and utilized as antifungal agents, pharmaceuticals, food additives, and flotation regents in metallurgy.
Because of the importance of compounds containing the N-hydroxyamide functionality, their syntheses and reactions are reviewed with 112 recent references. The syntheses cover such items as preparation of N-hydroxy- and N-benzyloxy-α-amino acids and their derivatives, synthesis of N-hy dr oxy - and N-benzyloxy-peptides, formation of hydroxamic acids, and total synthesis of naturally occurring hydroxamic acids. The reactions of N-hydroxyamide compounds are discussed in terms of acylation, alkylation, elimination, oxidation, rearrangement, reductive fission, and so forth.