Copper (0) nanoparticles onto silica: A stable and facile catalyst for one-pot synthesis of 2,2′-arylmethylene bis (3-hydroxy-5,5-dimethyl-2-cyclohexene-1-one) via cascade Knoevenagel/Michael reaction

Abstract

Solid supported copper (0) nanoparticles were prepared by physical adsorption of copper (0) nanoparticles (synthesized through bottom-up approach) on the solid supports such as silica, HAP, cellulose and basic alumina. Studies comparing these supported catalysts were done with the synthesis of arylmethylene-bis-(3-hydroxy-2-cyclohexene-1-one) via the cascade Knoevenagel/Michael reaction. The highly efficient catalyst was characterized by spectroscopic techniques like XPS, TGA, EDX, SEM, TEM and AAS. The biological importance of arylmethylene-bis-(3-hydroxy-2-cyclohexene-1-one) enforced us to synthesize these compounds catalytically using solid supported copper (0) nanopartcles. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]