Superparamagnetic Copper Ferrite Nanoparticles Catalyzed One Step Regioselective Synthesis of Dibenzodiazepinones via Ligand and Base Free Ullmann Type Coupling Reaction

CuFe2O4 superparamagnetic nanoparticles were used as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the one-step synthesis of dibenzodiazepinones via Ullmann type coupling reaction. The catalyst was highly stable, efficient and easily synthesized from readily available starting materials. The prepared CuFe2O4 NPs was characterized using various characterization techniques such as TEM, SEM, EDX, XRD, VSM, XPS and FT-IR analysis. The thermal stability of the catalyst was also examined by TGA analysis. The present methodology eliminates the multistep procedure for the synthesis of the said compounds. The catalyst efficiently catalyzed the reaction under milder condition furnishing high yield of the product within a short reaction time with higher regioselectivity. Furthermore, the CuFe2O4 super paramagnetic nanoparticles could be easily separated by an external magnet and reused for four consecutive runs. The present protocol is devoid of any base or ligands and showed excellent result for reproducibility and gram scale reaction which addressing the issues of sustainability and environment friendliness.