Particle shape anisotropy in pickering interfacial catalysis for Knoevenagel condensation

Dispersions of two immiscible liquids stabilized by solid particles are termed as Pickering emulsions. Stability of such emulsions is affected by various parameters such as amount of solid particle, method of emulsification, size, and shape of particles, etc. In this study, MgO samples prepared by different methods and characterized by XRD, FESEM, HRTEM, DLS, and CO2-TPD techniques were utilized for stabilizing o/w Pickering emulsions. The effect of particle shape on Pickering Interfacial Catalysis (PIC) for Knoevenagel condensation was investigated. It was found that in the case of rod and plate shaped particles, emulsion stability and catalytic activity were higher as compared to those obtained with other MgO samples prepared. The applicability of the MgO-PIC system is also successfully demonstrated for gram scale synthesis (85 % yield in 30 min). The MgO-PIC system was found to be reusable for at least five cycles without substantial loss in activity.

Nitrogen-Enriched Biguanidine-Functionalized Cobalt Ferrite Nanoparticles as a Heterogeneous Base Catalyst for Knoevenagel Condensation under Solvent-Free Conditions

Designing efficient, economical heterogeneous catalysts for the Knoevenagel condensation reaction is highly significant owing to the importance of reaction products in industries as well as pharmaceutics. Herein, we have designed and synthesized biguanidine-functionalized basic magnetically retrievable cobalt ferrite nanoparticles (CFNPs) for the synthesis of Knoevenagel condensation products using benzaldehydes and active methylene compounds (malononitrile/ethyl cyanoacetate/cyanoacetamide). Several advanced techniques, such as Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and vibration sample magnetometry (VSM), were utilized to precisely characterize the catalyst. The robust features of the current approach involve outstanding catalytic performance, solvent-free reaction conditions, ease of catalyst retrievability, easy workup procedure, large substrate tolerance, high turnover frequency (TOF) values (up to 486.88 h-1), values of green chemistry metrics such as E-factor (0.15), reaction mass efficiency (RME) value (87.07%), carbon efficiency (93.4%), and atom economy (AE) value (88.10%) close to their ideal values, and recyclability up to eight runs without a considerable reduction in activity, boosting the appeal of this approach from a commercial and ecological point of view.

Pickering Interfacial Catalysis-Knoevenagel Condensation in Magnesium Oxide-Stabilized Pickering Emulsion

In the present study, a novel catalytic route for the Knoevenagel condensation reaction has been developed by Pickering interfacial catalysis using magnesium oxide (MgO) as both an emulsion stabilizer and a base catalyst. MgO was prepared by the precipitation method using sodium hydroxide or ammonium hydroxide as the precipitating agent and calcined at different temperatures. The calcined samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, AFM, BET, and DLS techniques. The catalytic application of the emulsions stabilized by MgO was investigated for the Knoevenagel condensation reaction of benzaldehyde and its derivatives with malononitrile. All of the reactions were carried out at an ambient temperature (30 °C) under static conditions without stirring. Both the emulsion-stabilizing ability and the catalytic activity of MgO were found to be affected by the method of preparation, calcination temperature, and the nature of the oil phase. It was observed that the method of preparation varied the texture and morphology of MgO and thus the stability and droplet size of the emulsion formed. This was further reflected in the catalytic activity. The highest yield (87%) of the condensation product was obtained with MgO prepared by precipitation using a strong base (NaOH) and further calcined at 400 °C. The developed catalytic system offers several green chemistry advantages such as reusable solid-base catalyst and use of a single material as both emulsion stabilizer and catalyst. Room-temperature reaction under static conditions is an additional advantage of the developed catalytic system.