Sulfonic acid-functionalized titanomagnetite nanoparticles as recyclable heterogeneous acid catalyst for one-pot solvent-free synthesis of 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones/thiones

Sulfonic acid-functionalized titanomagnetite (Fe3−x Ti x O4@SO3H) nanoparticles were prepared by grafting sulfonic acid groups on Fe3−x Ti x O4 nanoparticles. This new heterogeneous acid nanocatalyst demonstrated an efficient catalytic performance in the one-pot synthesis of dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-one/thione derivatives under solvent-free conditions with high yields. The nanocatalyst could easily be separated from the reaction mixture simply by using an external magnet, recycled and reused for several times with no significant loss of catalytic activity. These nanoparticles were characterized by different physicochemical techniques, such as Fourier transform infrared, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, thermogravimetric and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) analyses.