Chronicle of Nanocelluloses (NCs) for Catalytic Applications: Key Advances

Nanocellulose (NC) is a biomaterial with growing interest in the field of nanocomposites and sustainable materials. NC has various applications including biodegradable materials, reinforcing agents, packaging films, transpiring membranes and medical devices. Among the many applications, the use of NC functionalized with organic and inorganic groups has found wide use as a catalyst in chemical transformations. The goal of this review is to collect the current knowledge on its catalytic applications for chemical groups conversion. We have chosen to organize the manuscript according to subdivision of NC into Bacterial Nanocellulose (BNC), Cellulose Nanocrystals (CNCs), and Cellulose Nanofibers (CNFs) and their role as inorganic- and organic-functionalized NC-catalysts in organic synthesis. However, in consideration of the fact that the literature on this field is very extensive, we have decided to focus our attention on the scientific productions of the last five years.

Nanocrystalline ZnO: A Competent and Reusable Catalyst for the Preparation of Pharmacology Relevant Heterocycles in the Aqueous Medium

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Nanoparticle catalyzed synthesis is a green and convenient method to achieve most of the chemical transformations in water or other green solvents. Nanoparticle ensures an easy isolation process of catalyst as well as products from the reaction mixture avoiding the hectic work up procedure. Zinc oxide is a biocompatible, environmentally benign and economically viable nanocatalyst with effectivity comparable to the other metal nanocatalyst employed in several reaction strategies. This review mainly focuses on the recent applications of zinc oxide in the synthesis of biologically important heterocyclic molecules under sustainable reaction conditions.

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Application of zinc oxide in organic synthesis: Considering the achievable advantages of this nanocatalyst, presently several research groups are paying attention in anchoring zincoxide or its modified structure in several types of organic conversions e.g. multicomponent reactions, ligand-free coupling reactions, cycloaddition reaction, etc. The advantages and limitations of this nanocatalyst are also demonstrated. The present study aims to highlight the recent multifaceted applications of ZnO towards the synthesis of diverse heterocyclic motifs. Being a promising biocompatible nanoparticle, this catalyst has an important contribution in the fields of synthetic chemistry and medicinal chemistry.

A facile and one-pot synthesis of new tetrahydrobenzo[b]pyrans in water under microwave irradiation

Eleven new tetrahydrobenzo[b]pyran derivatives were synthesized via a three component reaction of different aromatic aldehydes, methyl cyanoacetate and 1,3-cyclohexadione, with water as solvent under catalyst-free microwave irradiation. The structures of all the new molecules were well analysed and their structures established by using various spectral techniques (¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, ¹⁵N NMR and HRMS). Various advantages of reported protocol are the ease of preparation, short reaction times (10 min), aqueous solvent and excellent yields (89–98%). Additionally, this method provides a clean access to the desired products by simple workup.

Synthesis and antimicrobial activity of novel thienopyrimidine linked rhodanine derivatives

This work presents the preparation of a new series of N-(substituted phenyl)-2-(4-oxo-5-(4-(thieno[2,3-d]-pyrimidin-4-yloxy)benzylidene)-2-thioxothiazolidin-3-yl)acetamide derivatives (8a–8l). A condensation reaction of thienopyrimidin-2-thioxothiazolidin-4-one derivative (5) with various 2-chloro-N-phenylacetamides (7a–7l) was employed to afford the new thienopyrimidine tagged rhodanine derivatives under acetone solvent in the presence of potassium carbonate (K2CO3). All of the novel target molecules were characterized by IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and LC–MS spectral analyses and were screened for their in vitro antimicrobial activity by using the broth dilution method. Compounds 8c, 8g, and 8h found to have antibacterial potency against E. coli, B. subtilis, B. cereus, and K. pneumonia with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 3.25–6.25 μg/mL compared with the standard Gentamicin. Compounds 8c and 8f demonstrated better antifungal potency (MIC = 3.25–6.25 μg/mL) against A. flavus, A. niger, P. marneffei, and C. albicans when compared with Fluconazole.

An efficient and green approach for the synthesis of 2,4-dihydropyrano[2,3-c]pyrazole-3-carboxylates using Bi2O3/ZrO2 as a reusable catalyst

A novel material of bismuth loaded on zirconia (Bi2O3/ZrO2) is synthesized by simple wet-impregnation method and characterized by several techniques (P-XRD, TEM, SEM, BET, etc.). Bi2O3/ZrO2 proved to be a good catalyst for the four-component, one-pot reaction to produce a new series of 2,4-dihydropyrano[2,3-c]pyrazole-3-carboxylate derivatives with excellent yields (91 to 98%) under mild conditions at RT with short reaction times (≈20 min). The structures of the target molecules were confirmed by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, 15N NMR, HRMS and FT-IR. The catalyst is easily separable and can be reused for six cycles without ostensible loss of activity. This method is inexpensive, atom-efficient and no chromatographic separations are needed.

Nanocrystalline cellulose isolated from discarded cigarette filters

We report the isolation of nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) produced from discarded cigarette filters (DCF). The DCF were processed into cellulose via ethanolic extraction, hypochlorite bleaching, alkaline deacetylation, and then converted into NCC by sulfuric acid hydrolysis. The morphological structures of the isolated NCC established with TEM showed that the nanocrystals were needle-like with a mean length of 143nm. FEGSEM showed the morphological transition of the micro-sized DCF to self-assembled NCC while EDX revealed the presence of Ti (as TiO₂) in DCF, which was retained in the NCC. A NCC sample was freeze-dried and showed a specific surface area of 7.78m²/g. The crystallinity of the NCC film and freeze-dried samples were 96.77% and 94.47%, respectively. Crystallite sizes of the freeze-dried (8.4nm) and film (7.6nm) samples correlated with the mean width (8.3nm) of the NCC observed under TEM.