Magnetic graphene oxide/NHC catalyzed aerobic direct amidation and cross-dehydrogenative coupling of aldehydes

In this paper, synthesis of a new imidazolium based NHC containing of imidazopyridine substitutes by a three-component reaction was described. This compound was immobilized on magnetic graphene oxide (GO) to make a heterogeneous catalyst for aerobic direct amidation of benzaldehyde derivatives under solvent-free conditions as well as for intra- and intermolecular cross dehydrogenative coupling of aldehyde. In addition, the catalytic activity of the NHC catalyst was homogeneously studied in the presence of Fe3O4 NPs under same conditions, and it shown the good activities with lower yields than heterogeneous catalyst.