Amide functional groups are prominent in a broad range of organic compounds with diverse beneficial applications. In this work, we report the synthesis of these functional groups via an iron(iii) chloride-catalyzed direct amidation of esters. The reactions are conducted under solvent-free conditions and found to be compatible with a range of amine and ester substrates generating the desired amides in short reaction times and good to excellent yields at a catalyst loading of 15 mol%.