effective, water-tolerant, and reusablecatalyst for the directcondensation of carboxylicacids and N,N¢-dimethylurea under microwave irradiation to give the corre- sponding N-methylamides in moderate to excellent yields. Notably, ZrOCl2·8H2O is a potentially useful green catalyst due to its low toxicity, easy availability, low cost, ease of handling, easy recovery, good activity, and reusability.