Synthesis of some Novel Imidazoles Catalyzed by Co3O4 Nanoparticles and Evaluation of their Antibacterial Activities

Aim and Objective: The multi-component condensation of benzil, primary amines, ammonium acetate and various aldehydes was efficiently catalyzed using cobalt oxide nanoparticles under ultrasonic irradiation. This approach describes an effective and facile method for the synthesis of some novel 1,2,4,5-tetrasubstituted imidazole derivatives with several advantages such as high yields and short reaction times and reusability of the catalyst. Moreover, the prepared heterocyclic compounds showed high antibacterial activity against some pathogenic strains. Materials and Method: The facile and efficient approaches for the preparation of Co3O4 nanoparticles were carried out by one step method. The synthesized heterogeneous nanocatalyst was characterized by spectroscopic analysis including EDX, FE-SEM, VSM, XRD and FT-IR analysis. The as-synthesized cobalt oxide nanoparticles showed paramagnetic behaviour in magnetic field. In addition, the catalytic influence of the nanocatalyst was examined in the one-pot reaction of primary amines, benzil, ammonium acetate and diverse aromatic aldehydes under ultrasonic irradiation. All of the 1,2,4,5-tetrasubstituted imidazoles were investigated and checked with m.p., 1H NMR, 13C NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy techniques. The antibacterial properties of the heterocycles were evaluated in vitro by the disk diffusion against pathogenic strains such as Escherichia coli (EC), Bacillus subtillis (BS), Staphylococcus aureus (SA), Salmonellatyphi (ST) and Shigella dysentrae (SD) species. Results: In this research cobalt oxide nanostructure was used as a robust and green catalyst in the some novel imidazoles. The average particle size measured from the FE-SEM image is found to be 20-30 nm which confirmed to the obtained results from XRD pattern. Various electron-donating and electron-withdrawing aryl aldehydes were efficiently reacted in the presence of Co3O4 nanoparticles. The role of the catalyst as a Lewis acid is promoting the reactions with the increase in the electrophilicity of the carbonyl and double band groups. To investigate the reusability of the catalyst, the model study was repeated using recovered cobalt oxide nanoparticles. The results showed that the nanocatalyst could be reused for five times with a minimal loss of its activity. Conclusion: We have developed an efficient and environmentally friendly method for the synthesis of some tetrasubstituted imidazoles via three-component reaction of benzil, primary amines, ammonium acetate and various aldehydes using Co3O4 NPs. The present approach suggests different benefits such as: excellent yields, short reaction times, simple workup procedure and recyclability of the magnetic nanocatalyst. The prepared 1,2,4,5-tetrasubstituted imidazoles revealed high antibacterial activities and can be useful in many biomedical applications.