Visible Light-Induced Cu-Catalyzed Synthesis of Schiff's Base of 2-Amino Benzonitrile Derivatives and Acetophenones

An efficient, mild, and environment-friendly methodology for the synthesis of azomethine chromophores through the reaction of 2-aminobenzonitrile derivatives and acetophenones has been developed using CuCl (10 mol %) catalyst and toluene as a solvent under visible light irradiation. The reaction proceeds readily at room temperature under 20 W white LED with good to excellent yields in short reaction time. This methodology shows significant advantages such as environmentally benign reaction conditions, sustainability, enumerating tolerance of wide range of functional groups, cost-effectiveness, high atom economy, short reaction time, and applicability for large-scale synthesis.

Automated summary

The methodology is environmentally friendly, mild, and allows for a wide range of functional groups with good tolerance. It is cost-effective, has high atom economy, short reaction time, and is applicable for large-scale synthesis.