Probing the catalytic activity of highly efficient sulfonic acid fabricated cobalt ferrite magnetic nanoparticles for the clean and scalable synthesis of dihydro, spiro and bis quinazolinones

Abstract

An exceptionally productive, rapid, simple, and eco-friendly approach for the synthesis of 2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-one has been developed utilizing acidic magnetically retrievable cobalt ferrite nanoparticles (CFNP@SO₃H). Herein, we have demonstrated the synthesis of these profoundly demanding N-heterocyclic molecules within 3–10 min in excellent yields at room temperature using the environmentally benign solvent ethanol. Outstanding catalytic performance, ease of retrievability, high turnover frequency (TOF) values (197.13–403.23 h⁻¹), admirable green chemistry metrices, such as the E factor (0.10), reaction mass efficiency (RME) value (90.9%), carbon efficiency (100%) and atom economy (AE) value (92.6%), and reusability for up to six runs without a significant loss of activity, make the current methodology advantageous from an environmental, as well as industrial perspective.