Synthesis of chalcones catalyzed by aminopropylated silica sol-gel under solvent-free conditions

Aminopropylated nanosilica was prepared by a simple sol-gel process from tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and then it was functionalized with different amounts of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APS) under toluene reflux. The prepared solids were characterized by means of XRD, FT-IR, TGA-DTA, SEM-EDS, and TEM. Their textural properties were determined by adsorption-desorption isotherms of N-2 at 77K. It was proved that the amount of APS used in the preparation process had a great influence on the physicochemical properties of the hybrid organic-inorganic solid materials. The materials were used as catalyst in the Claisen-Schmidt preparation of chalcones for the reaction of substituted acetophenones and benzaldehydes under solvent-free conditions. The result showed that the presence of a high amount of aminopropyl groups was important for a very good performance of the catalyst in the substrate conversion. Also, the influence of different groups in the aromatic ring of acetophenones and benzaldehydes was investigated. In all cases, coproduct formation was not observed; the catalysts were recovered and can be recycled twice without appreciable loss of reactivity. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.