Novel synthesis of N-unsubstituted imidazoles via the cycloaddition of N-(tert-butylsulfinyl)imines and TosMIC

Magnetic nanoparticle-supported sulfonic acid as a green catalyst for the one-pot synthesis of 2,4,5-trisubstituted imidazoles and 1,2,4,5-tetrasubstituted imidazoles under solvent-free conditions

In this work, magnetic nanoparticle-supported sulfonic acid (γ-Fe2O3-SO3H) is used as an efficient catalyst in the synthesis of 2,4,5-trisubstituted imidazoles and 1,2,4,5-tetrasubstituted imidazoles in a short time (40–70 min for trisubstituted imidazoles and 30–40 min for tetrasubstituted imidazoles) and high-purity products were obtained (92–98% for trisubstituted imidazoles and 94–98% for tetrasubstituted imidazoles) in simple multicomponent reactions. The structure of these products was confirmed via FT-IR and NMR. Green and recyclable catalysts, eco-friendly and solvent-free conditions, high catalytic activity, shorter reaction time, easy recovery by an external magnet, high purity, and excellent yields are some features of these reactions.