Development of ZnO/PANI/Ag nanocomposite for synthesis of bioactive xanthene-1,8(2H)-dione derivatives

In this work, we have developed an effective and novel heterogeneous ZnO/polyaniline (PANI)/Ag nanocomposite, which was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). ZnO nanoparticles were prepared by coprecipitation method at low temperature. The obtained ZnO nanoparticles were used for its surface functionalization with PANI-supported silver nanoparticles via self-assembly redox polymerization method. Further, the high catalytic activity of ZnO/PANI/Ag nanocatalyst was investigated for the one-pot synthesis of xanthene derivatives via condensation of 5,5-dimethylcyclohexane-1,3-dione and different aromatic aldehydes under neat reaction condition. The advantage of this current work includes short reaction time, easy work-up, solvent free, high product yield, good chemistry metrices values, easily recoverable and reusable catalyst up to six cycles.