Graphite oxide, a
green metal-free carbocatalyst, has been successfully
exploited for the library synthesis of biologically active pyrimidine
derivatives. Reaction was carried out under solvent-free reaction
conditions (SFRC) thereby reducing the application of hazardous chemicals
and solvents. The present catalytic system eliminates the risk of
metal contamination in the product which is viable for pharmaceutical
industries and showed better catalytic activity under sustainable
conditions compared to other classical catalytic systems. The catalyst,
being heterogeneous in nature, can be easily recycled and reused up
to nine consecutive runs without much decrease in catalytic activities
thereby increasing sustainability of the procedure. Diversity in the
formation of pyrimidine moieties has been exhibited with the tolerance
of a large number of functional groups establishing the generality
of this reaction. A few other cutting edge advantages of the present
one-pot multicomponent methodology are high atom economy, low catalyst
loading, milder reaction conditions, higher yield of the desired product,
simple work up procedure, easy handling of the catalyst, etc. The
present methodology showed good results in gram scale conditions thereby
indicating its applicability in academic as well as industrial settings
in the near future.