Fur-Imine-Functionalized Graphene Oxide-Immobilized Copper Oxide Nanoparticle Catalyst for the Synthesis of Xanthene Derivatives

Fur-imine-functionalized graphene oxide-immobilized copper oxide nanoparticles (Cu(II)-Fur-APTES/GO) are synthesized and found to be a cost-effective, efficient, and reusable heterogeneous nanocatalyst for the preparation of pharmaceutically important xanthene derivatives under greener solvent conditions. Cu(II)-Fur-APTES/GO exhibits excellent result in the synthesis of xanthenes with reduced reaction time (25-50 min) and higher yields (up to 95%) and has a simple procedure, ease of product separation, and no byproducts. Moreover, the nanocatalyst has a Cu loading of 13.5 at. % over functionalized GO which is far superior than the already known metal-based heterogeneous catalysts. The newly synthesized catalyst has been characterized by various physiochemical techniques such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray, Raman spectroscopy for structural characterization, field emission scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy for morphological characterization. The catalyst showed admirable recyclability up to five consecutive runs, and there was no appreciable loss in catalytic efficiency.