The Modified Clay as a New and Eco-Friendly Catalyst for the Knoevenagel Reaction

This work aims the synthesis of substituted alkenes via Knoevenagel condensation using the clay collected from the Agadir region and modified by KF as a heterogeneous catalyst (KF-modified clay). In this context, the influence of various parameters on the reaction yield was studied, and the reuse of catalyst was carried out. The results obtained show that KF-modified clay is very effective for the preparation of substituted alkenes giving excellent yields (87–99%) and in very short times (between 2–4 s and 8 min) under mild and heterogeneous conditions. In addition, the recycling of our catalyst indicates that our material can be reused several times without losing its catalytic activity.