Acid functionalized mesoporous PAN monolith as reusable heterogeneous organocatalyst

• A polymer monolith based mesoporous catalyst containing free –CO2H group.
• This heterogenious organocatalyst used in xanthene synthesis at room temperature.
• This catalyst can used for several cycles.

A polyacrylonitrile (PAN) monolith has been functionalized by hydrolysis of the surface nitrile into carboxylic acid groups. This mesoporous acid functionalized polyacrylonitrile monolith (AFPM) has been characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT IR), chemical analysis, solid state MAS NMR spectroscopy, elemental mapping, field-emission scanning electron microscopy and N2 adsorption–desorption study. N2 sorption analysis revealed high surface areas (130–138 m2 g−1) and narrow pore size distributions (1.6–5.3 nm) along with macropore for different samples. FT IR, elemental mapping and MAS NMR results revealed the presence of both nitrile and acid group in the same monolith which supports the hydrolysis of surface nitrile groups during the hydrolysis. The acid functionalized monolith can serve as a reusable heterogeneous organocatalyst as demonstrated in its successful application to the synthesis of xanthene in room temperature.

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