acid amide

Any organic compound that may be regarded as being derived from ammonia by the substitution of acid or acyl groups for atoms of hydrogen. They are described as primary, secondary, or tertiary, according to the number of atoms of hydrogen displaced. Thus the general formula for a primary amide is RCONH2. The main acid amides are ethanamide and methanamide.

In biochemistry, the peptide bond is a secondary amide formed by the carboxylic acid group of one amino acid and the amino group of the following one.

Acrylamide is a highly toxic amide that is widely used as a monomer to produce polyacrylamide gels for electrophoresis; it has also been found in foods such as crisps as an unwanted side product formed at certain processing temperatures.