Ultrasmall Monodisperse NiO Nanocrystals as a Heterogeneous Catalyst for the A3-Coupling Reaction Toward Propargylamines

Ultrasmall monodisperse NiO nanoparticles (7–9 nm) were synthesized through thermal decomposition of Ni-oleylamine complexes. Various measurement techniques involving Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), diffuse reflectance UV-Vis spectroscopy (DRS), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering technique (DLS), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) were employed to characterize the synthesized catalyst. Propargylamine derivatives were synthesized with aldehydes, terminal alkynes and primary amines through a one-pot A3-coupling reaction by using a 3 mol% amount of the NiO nanocrystals at 80 °C under solvent-free conditions with good to excellent yields. The structures of the products were confirmed by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. The catalyst presents many advantages including being environmentally friendly, easy to recover, reusable, stable, and applicable to a wide variety of substrates, as well as having cost-effective preparation.