We have discovered that 3,4,5-trifluorophenol borate is highly effective for catalytic amidations using previously unreactive substrates, in particular working with very electron poor amines and substrates with competitive coordinating functionality. The catalyst is readily synthesized on multigram scale and can be generated directly in the reaction from BH3.SMe2/ArOH without additional purification. After reaction, amides can be purified by crystallization or base washing leading to highly efficient processes for the preparation of amides in multigram quantities. We anticipate that by increasing the generality and accessibility of catalytic amidation reactions they may become more prevalent in day-to-day laboratory organic synthesis.