This work describes an easy way to perform approach for the transformation of arylmethyl ketones to α-ketoamides using secondary amines as starting materials in the presence of iodine as a catalyst in water under peroxide free reaction conditions. The established amidation reaction proceeds via α-C(sp3)-H functionalization and C-N bond formation approaches in water at ambient temperature. On the other hand, a novel and straightforward synthesis of 2,4-disubstituted-1,3,5-triazines via nickel-catalyzed cyclization of amidines with DMSO as one-carbon synthon has been developed. The developed strategy proceeds via C-N bond formation.