A highly efficient and reusable heterogeneous catalyst for the one-pot synthesis of tetrasubstituted imidazoles

An efficient synthesis of 1,2,4,5-tetrasubstituted imidazoles is achieved by four component cyclocon-densation of benzil or benzoin, aniline or benzyl amine, aldehyde and ammonium acetate by using novel polymeric catalyst [poly(AMPS-co-AA)] under solvent-free conditions. The key advantages of this process are high yields, shorter reaction times, easy work-up, purification of products by non-chromatographic method and the reusability of the catalyst. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.