Extremely active catalyst for the reaction of carboxylic acids with primary and secondary amines to give the corresponding amides in very high yields: J. Org. Chem., 61, 4196 (1996). Also useful in the one-pot synthesis of acyl azides from carboxylic acids and NaN3: Tetrahedron Lett., 43, 9715 (2002). Mediates the mild, one-pot reduction of carboxylic acids to alcohols with NaBH4: Tetrahedron Lett., 44, 3427 (2003).