Zinc-aluminum mixed oxide nanocomposites catalyzed KA2 coupling of ketone, amine, and an alkyne: An environmentally benign approach

Abstract

Heterogeneous catalysis is of prime importance especially to produce essential fine chemicals and organic molecules. Herein, we presented the simplest synthesis and application of zinc-aluminum mixed oxide nanocomposites (ZnAl-MO NCs) as an efficient catalyst for three component one-pot KA2 coupling reactions to prepare tetrasubstituted propargylamines. The as synthesized ZnAl-MO NCs were well characterized using spectroscopic tools viz. PXRD, BET, XPS, HRTEM, ICP techniques. ZnAl-MO NCs selectively catalyze the KA2 coupling reactions between ketone, amine and an alkyne affording wide range of functional substrates with higher conversion rates and yield. The sustainability of the catalyst was also studied systematically by evaluating the green chemistry metrics such as E factor, atom economy and turn over numbers. Notably, the architectures proposed methodology not only highlights the versatility of environmentally benign novel catalyst but also displays lower leaching levels for zinc and aluminum respectively.