Iranian Researchers Discover New Nanocatalyst Formulation for Organic Reactions
Ali Kazemi Tabrizi, who enjoys Ph.D in Natural Resources-Wood and Paper Industry Sciences from Tehran-based Islamic Azad University Science and Research Branch, in collaboration with some other researchers in a team succeeded in producing a new nano catalyst named "Luffa Ammonium dihydrogen sulfate" that is used as a appropriate substitute for sulfuric acid in organic reactions.
“The use of catalysts in chemistry is critical and unavoidable necessity. In this regard, acid catalysts play a major and key role. The main problem in this field is the difficulty of using prominent mineral acids such as phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid, the difficulty of separating the products and the low yield of the desired products,” he said.
He added that they focused their research on solid acids as alternative catalysts.
Kazemi Tabrizi described the main goal of their research the synthesis and introduction of a new nanocatalyst as a suitable and effective substitute for sulfuric acid and its use in chemical processes.
He stated that the main goal of their research was to synthesize and produce a new nanocatalyst as a suitable and effective substitute for sulfuric acid and its use in chemical processes.
“The basis of the work in this invention was the chemical modification of the surface of lignocellulosic luffa nanoparticles, the identification of the yielded nanocatalyst, and then its use as a heterogeneous nanocatalyst in various chemical transformations,” the researcher continued to explain about their new synthesis.
“The key step in this invention was the production of the catalyst and its identification with the help of IR, TGA, XRD, DRS and SEM devices, which included modifying the surfaces of lignocellulosic luffa with 3-triethoxysilil propylamine for synthesis and acidifying it and performing all the necessary checks,” he further said.
Kazemi Tabrizi stated that the reaction of luffa with 3-triethoxysilil propylamine made it possible to place acidic groups on the lignocellulosic surfaces of luffa to create catalysis in this material, adding, “The use of the prepared catalyst in various organic transformations including protection and deprotection of functional groups such as amines and synthetic reactions were other stages of this invention.”
According to him, the initial result of making and proving the structure of the favored catalyst with the above-mentioned methods and its very successful application in accelerating the synthesis reactions of octahydroxanthenes and bis(indolyl)methanes as an example of pseudo-pharmaceutical compounds showed the superiority of the acquired catalyst over other catalysts in terms of reducing the process time, increasing productivity, reducing the amount of catalyst used, and easy used of the method.”
Kazemi Tabrizi pointed to the separation of products and the reversibility of the catalyst after consumption as other achievements of their study, noting, “The next step is to use this catalyst in a broad range of organic reactions that require an acid catalyst.”
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