Bio-heterogeneous Cu(0)NC@PHA for n-aryl/alkylation at room temperature

Abstract

A pure cellulose was derived from waste fibre and it was chemically modified to a hydroxamic acid ligand. The poly(hydroxamic acid) was treated with an aqueous copper solution to afford the greenish stable five-membered copper complex; namely Cu(II)@PHA. Further, the Cu(II)@PHA was treated with a reducing agent hydrazine hydride to give brown colour cellulose supported copper nanocomplex (Cu(0)NC@PHA). The Cu(0)NC@PHA was characterised by ATR-FTIR, FE-SEM & EDS, TEM, ICP-OES, TGA, XRD and XPS analyses. The cellulose-based Cu(0)NC@PHA was used for the n-aryl/alkylation (Michael addition) reaction with a variety of α,β-unsaturated Michael acceptors to produce the corresponding n-aryl/alkyl products with an excellent yield at room temperature. The Cu(0)NC@PHA showed extraordinary stability and it was easily filtered out from the reaction mixture and may potentially recycled up to five times without loss of its original catalytic ability.