Magnetite dopamine‐decorated copper (Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>@PDA/CuCl<sub>2</sub>): A robust and reusable catalyst for promoting green synthesis of benzimidazoles and benzothiazoles
Mehran Badbedast, Dariush Khalili, Amir Abdolmaleki, Fereshteh Norouzi
Abstract
A one‐pot and efficient catalytic protocol has been developed to synthesize pharmaceutically critical 2‐substituted benzimidazoles and benzothiazoles using magnetite dopamine‐supported copper nanoparticles (Fe 3 O 4 @PDA/CuCl 2 ) as a heterogeneous catalyst. This selective transformation proceeds via oxidative cross‐coupling of readily available benzylic amines with o ‐phenylenediamine/2‐aminothiophenol. This one‐pot green method proceeds smoothly, under mild conditions, avoids the usage of toxic metals, tolerates a variety of functionalities, and is amenable to gram scale. Furthermore, this easy‐to‐prepare magnetic nanocatalyst can be separated by magnetic decantation after the reaction, thereby making it more sustainable.