Design and development of a truly nanobifunctional heterogeneous catalyst for the Claisen-Schmidt condensation (CSC) of benzaldehydes with acetophenones to yield chalcones quantitatively followed by asymmetric epoxidation (AE) to afford chiral epoxy ketones with moderate to good yields and impressive ee's is described. The nanomagnesium oxide (aerogel prepared) NAP-MgO was found to be superior over the NA-MgO and CM-MgO in terms of activity and enantioselectivity as applicable in these reactions. An elegant strategy for heterogenization of homogeneous catalysts is presented here to evolve single-site chiral catalysts for AE by a successful transfer of molecular chemistry to surface metal-organic chemistry with the retention of activity, selectivity/enantioselectivity. Brønsted hydroxyls are established as sole contributors for the epoxidation reaction, while they add on to the CSC, which is largely driven by Lewis basic O2-sites. Strong hydrogen-bond interactions between the surface -OH on MgO and -OH groups of diethyl tartrate are found inducing enantioselectivity in the AE reaction. Thus, the nanocrystalline NAP-MgO with its defined shape, size, and accessible OH groups allows the chemisorption of TBHP, DET, and olefin on its surface to accomplish single-site chiral catalysts to provide optimum ee's in AE reactions.

No abstract

Nanocrystalline magnesium oxide was found to be an effective heterogeneous, solid base catalyst for the one-pot Wittig reaction to afford a,bunsaturated esters and nitriles in excellent yields with high E-stereoselectivity in the presence of triphenylphosphine under mild conditions.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

One pot, three component synthesis of 2-amino-4-aryl-3,5-dicyano-6-sulfanylpyridines and the corresponding 1,4-dihydropyridines are from readily accessible starting materials is described. Simply heating of an ethanolic solution of structurally diverse aldehydes with various thiols and malononitrile in the presence of nanocrystalline magnesium oxide provides the highly substituted pyridine derivatives in moderate to high yields, each representing a privileged medicinal scaffold with their structural motif. After completion of the reaction, the catalyst can be recovered efficiently and reused with constintent activity.

No abstract