Extending the hierarchy of heterogeneous catalysis to substituted derivatives of benzimidazole synthesis: Transition metals decorated CNTs

A simple and practical procedure has been adopted for one pot synthesis of benzimidazole derivatives under mild reaction conditions, starting from cinnamyl alcohol (COH) with bimetallic nanoparticles (BNPs) and supported bimetallic nanoparticles of Cu, Ti, Zn, Mn, Ag, and Co. All the catalysts were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), X-Ray Diffractometry (XRD), Brunauer Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area, and pore size analyzer. The products were identified/quantified with¹HNMR, FT-IR, and MS. 98% yield of substituted derivatives of benzimidazole was obtained with Cu–Ti supported on FMWCNTs in ethanol with excellent selectivity. Quantum chemical calculations of molecular reactivity of substituted cinnamaldehyde (CHO) and ortho phenylenediamine (OPD) have good consistency with experimental results. The returns of this work were the use of readily available catalysts, high yield, short reaction time, and simplicity of the process.