with ammonia using aqueous ammonia for this purpose resulted in hydrolysis of the ester in a preferred embodiment of the present method 4 iodo 3 nitrobenzamide can be prepared by dissolving 4 iodo 3 nitrobenzoic acid methyl ester in a suitable solvent and treating the solution with anhydrous ammonia gas the suitable solvents for the reaction are methanol ethanol isopropanol acetone and methyl tert butyl ether these solvents have the ability to dissolve ammonia in high concentration the preferred solvent is methanol the starting ester is dissolved in methanol and ammonia is passed into the solution dissolution of ammonia in methanol is an exothermic reaction hence initial cooling to u2212 10 u00b1 2 u00b0 c is preferred at this temperature some amount of ester precipitates however on passing ammonia it gets dissolved and results in a clear solution the solution is saturated with ammonia and kept at ambient temperature in a properly closed container monitoring by tlc showed that the reaction is completed in three days although most of the conversion takes place in two days a small amount 5 10 of the starting material may still be present when the reaction is conducted in an autoclave under pressure formation of impurities was observed removal of solvent under reduced pressure gives an amide as a yellow solid 95 yield 98 hplc it is further crystallized from hot methanol and water for crystallization the amide is dissolved in hot methanol at about 55 u00b0 c while the mixture is still hot water is added and the precipitate formed.