A metal-organic framework MOF-199 was synthesized and characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (PXRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermalgravimetric analysis (TGA), atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). The Cu-MOF was used as heterogeneous catalyst for the amidation of unactivated alkanes by benzamides via direct oxidative C(sp3)-H/N-H coupling under ligand-free condition. The MOF-199 exhibited similar activity to other frequently reported Cu-MOFs and common copper salts. Furthermore, the MOF-199 could be separated from the reaction mixture by filtration, and could be recovered and reused several times without a significant degradation in catalytic activity