Green Chemistry: A Novel Approach To Improve The Recoverability, Activity, & Performance Of Nano-Structured Catalysts

Nawaf Abdulwahab Alhowaish

Dharan Ahliyya Schools, Dammam, SAUDI ARABIA

The utilization of nano-structured materials as catalysts is highly relevant due to their elevated catalytic efficiency, recovery and reuse rates. Today, the main concern is that chemical products release CO2 and other toxic emission during catalytic reactions. There has to be new methods and techniques to reduce these emissions. This research demonstrates a novel method to improve the recoverability, activity, and performance of the nano-structured catalyst using environmentally friendly green chemistry techniques and magnetic nanoparticles. In order to accomplish this, a catalyst support was synthesized “Fe3O4”, an amino acid “Glutathione” was attached to the catalyst support. Different characterization techniques were applied (XRD, TEM, TGA, FTIR) to confirm the formation of the desired nano-organocatalyst. To test the activity of the nano-organocatalyst, Pyrazole synthesis and Aza-michael reactions were selected. These reactions derivatives are important for the synthesis of pharmaceutical compounds. The activity of the catalyst ranged between 80%-96%, which reflects the high performance of the nano-organocatalyst. The catalyst activity in the Benzylamine reaction lasted for 5 consecutive cycles showing a positive yield during the recoverability process that started with a yield percent 96% and ended with 93% at the fifth cycle, with a drop of 3% only. This research bridges the defects that are found in both the homogenous and heterogeneous systems by using nano-structured materials with high and promising activity and recoverability rates. This will lead to potentially beneficial applications such as the synthesis of pharmaceutical drugs for antidiabetic and antibacterial functionality.