Immobilized nickel boride nanoparticles on magnetic functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes: a new nanocomposite for the efficient one-pot synthesis of 1,4-benzodiazepines.

In this study, a new magnetic nanocomposite consisting of Ni2B nanoparticles anchored on magnetic functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (Fe3O4/f-MWCNT/Ni2B) was synthesized and characterized using various techniques such as FT-IR, XRD, FESEM, SEM-based EDX, SEM-based elemental mapping, HRTEM, DLS, SAED, XPS, BET, TGA, and VSM. The as-prepared magnetic nanocomposite was successfully employed for the preparation of bioactive 1,4-benzodiazepines from the three-component reaction of o-phenylenediamine (1), dimedone (2), and different aldehydes (3), in polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG-400) as a solvent at 60 °C. The obtained results demonstrated that the current one-pot three-component protocol offers many advantages, such as good-to-excellent yields within acceptable reaction times, favorable TONs and TOFs, eco-friendliness of the procedure, easy preparation of the nanocomposite, mild reaction conditions, a broad range of products, excellent catalytic activity, green solvent, and reusability of the nanocomposite.