A novel approach for the preparation of silver nanoparticles supported on titanate nanotubes and bentonite-application in the synthesis of heterocyclic compound derivatives

Abstract

The present work aims to study the effect of the type of support on the properties of silver nanoparticles by choosing two kinds of supports with similar characteristics, i.e. titanate nanotubes (TiNT) and Bentonite brought from the northwestern region of Maghnia in Algeria. The titanate nanotubes were prepared by conventional hydrothermal treatment; as for Bentonite, it was first purified, acidified and then doped with silver particles. The Deposition Precipitation with Urea (DPU) method was selected for the preparation of metalized titanate nanotubes (TiNT) as well as Bentonite at 2 wt% of Ag. The prepared materials were characterized by different methods, namely RD/UV–vis, FTIR, BET, XRD, TEM, SEM and EDS. The characterization results showed that titanate nanotubes exhibit a hollow structure with inner and outer diameters generally equal to 3 and 9 nm, respectively. However, silver nanoparticles, with an average size of 2.1 nm, were well distributed over titanate nanotubes and Bentonite. The catalytic activity of the prepared catalysts was investigated by performing the one-pot three-component synthesis of isoxazol-5(4 H)-ones in water, at room temperature. An excellent yield (≈90%) was obtained for the synthesis of isoxazol-5-(4 H)–ones; this yield generally depends on silver content.