Knoevenagel reaction in water catalyzed by mesoporous silica materials synthesized from industrial waste coal fly ash

Abstract

Coal flyash of thermal power plants converted into mesoporous materials MCM-41. The synthesized material was characterized by XRD, FT-IR, SEM, and EDS techniques. The catalytic activity of prepared material was studied for thesynthesis of 5-arylindene malononitriles via Knoevenagel condensation of aromatic aldehydes and malonontrile is described. The features of present method are easy handling, stability, reusability, and eco-friendliness of catalyst, high yields, short reaction time, simple experimental and work up procedure.