Chemical Sciences Journal

Solvent-Free One-Pot Synthesis of Coumarins using Heterogeneous Recyclable Fecl₃/Mcm41 Catalyst

Abstract

Deepa Dumbreabd*, Vasant R Choudharya, H Balochb, MTH Siddiquib, N Sabzoib, ML Kantamc, MK Dongred and S Umbarkard

A highly efficient, solvent-free and versatile greener protocol was developed for the synthesis of coumarins from resorcinol an ethyl acetoacetate via Pechmann condensation using heterogeneous recyclable FeCl₃/MCM41 catalyst. This method is simple, cost effective, and benefits from the elimination of waste streams generated with conventional acid catalysts. The influence of catalyst calcination temperature as well as various solvent on conversion and product selectivity has also been studied in this work. The developed FeCl₃/ MCM41 catalysts showed excellent catalytic performance with 60%-75% yields for coumarins, depending on the catalyst pretreatment and reaction conditions used. Moreover, FeCl₃/MCM41 catalyst treated at 400°C can be reused efficiently for five times without a significant loss of its activity, which was attributed to synergistic effects of metal-support interactions, especially unique acid-redox properties of FeCl₃.