Cu-Mn Bimetallic Complex Immobilized on Magnetic NPs as an Efficient Catalyst for Domino One-Pot Preparation of Benzimidazole and Biginelli Reactions from Alcohols

Abstract

An efficient magnetically recyclable bimetallic catalyst by anchoring copper and manganese complexes on the Fe3O4 NPs was prepared and named as Fe3O4@Cu-Mn. It was founded as a powerful catalyst for the domino one-pot oxidative benzimidazole and Biginelli reactions from benzyl alcohols as a green protocol in the presence of air, under solvent-free and mild conditions. Fe3O4@Cu-Mn NPs were well characterized by FT-IR, XRD, FE-SEM, TEM, VSM, TGA, EDX, DLS, and ICP analyses. The optimum range of parameters such as time, temperature, amount of catalyst, and solvent were investigated for the domino one-pot benzimidazole and Biginelli reactions to find the optimum reaction conditions. The catalyst was compatible with a variety of benzyl alcohols, which provides favorable products with good to high yields for all of derivatives. Hot filtration and Hg poisoning tests from the nanocatalyst revealed the stability, low metal leaching and heterogeneous nature of the catalyst. To prove the synergistic and cooperative effect of the catalytic system, the various homologues of the catalyst were prepared and then applied to a model reaction separately. Finally, the catalyst could be filtered from the reaction mixture simply, and reused for five consecutive cycles with a minimum loss in catalytic activity and performance.