Development of magnetic Fe3O4-chitosan immobilized Cu(II) Schiff base catalyst: An efficient and reusable catalyst for microwave assisted one-pot synthesis of propargylamines via A3 coupling

A novel heterogeneous catalyst (Fe3O4@CS@Schiffbase@Cu) is developed by generating the Cu(II) Schiff base complex on the Fe3O4-chitosan surface. The structural and morphological characteristics of the catalyst is confirmed by all physicochemical techniques. A low catalyst loading (1.1 mol% Cu) of the immobilized Cu(II) Schiff base complex shows its catalytic activity for A3 coupling reaction of Aldehyde, Alkyne, and Amines under microwave irradiation. The catalyst was proven very active for a wide variety of propargylamines syntheses using different substituted aromatic aldehydes, secondary amines, and phenylacetylene under optimized conditions. The recyclability of the catalyst was efficient even after six cycles with a 95% efficiency.