Ionic modified crosslinked salep: A highly loaded and efficient heterogeneous organocatalyst

In this work, a novel heterogeneous organocatalyst was synthesized by immobilization of hydroxide ions on the modified salep as a natural polymer. Because of the grafting of ionic polymer chains onto the salep backbone, catalyst has high loading level of hydroxide ions (3.01 mmol/g). The resulting catalyst shows excellent activity in the synthesis of 4H-benzo[b]pyrans in water at room temperature in short reaction times. The present catalyst and protocol represent a simple, ecologically safe and cost-effective route to synthesize 4H-benzo[b]pyrans with high product yield, as well as easy catalyst recycling. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.