An economical synthesis of benzodiazepines using ACT@IRMOF core–shell as a potential eco-friendly catalyst through the activated carbon of thymus plant (ACT)

Abstract

Here, a straightforward design is employed to synthesize a nanocatalyst based on a carbon-activated modified metal–organic framework using the solvothermal method. This work presents a simple and practical approach for producing the activated carbon derived from the Thymus plant (ACT) modified with amine-functionalized isoreticular metal–organic framework-3 (IRMOF-3) to create an ACT@IRMOF-3 core–shell structure. Successful functionalization was confirmed through N₂ adsorption isotherms, FT-IR, FE-SEM, TEM, EDS, elemental mapping, TGA, and XRD analysis. The ACT@IRMOF-3 nanocomposite demonstrated exceptional performance in the synthesis of novel benzodiazepine derivatives, facilitating high product yields using various 1,2-phenylenediamine and aromatic aldehydes under mild conditions. The obtained results demonstrated that the presence of IRMOF-3 on the surface of ACT remarkably increases the catalytic reaction yield. The present methodology offers several merits such as high catalytic activity, excellent yields, short reaction times, cleaner reactions, simple operations, and compatibility of a wide range of substrates. Furthermore, the catalyst can be easily isolated from the reaction mixture via filtration and retains remarkable reusability and catalytic activity even after six consecutive reaction cycles.