In organic chemistry, an amide, also known as an organic amide or a carboxamide, is a compound with the general formula R−C(=O)−NR′R″, where R, R', and R″ represent any group, typically organyl groups or hydrogen atoms.[4][5] The amide group is called a peptide bond when it is part of the main chain of a protein, and an isopeptide bond when it occurs in a side chain, such as in the amino acids asparagine and glutamine. It can be viewed as a derivative of a carboxylic acid (R−C(=O)−OH) with the hydroxyl group (−OH) replaced by an amine group (−NR′R″); or, equivalently, an acyl (alkanoyl) group (R−C(=O)−) joined to an amine group.

Common examples of amides are formamide (H−C(=O)−NH₂), acetamide (H₃C−C(=O)−NH₂), benzamide (C₆H₅−C(=O)−NH₂), and dimethylformamide (H−C(=O)−N(−CH₃)₂). Some uncommon examples of amides are N-chloroacetamide (H₃C−C(=O)−NH−Cl) and chloroformamide (Cl−C(=O)−NH₂).