Silver nanoparticles embedded in modified polyallylamine resin as efficient catalysts for alkyne–azide 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition in water

•A silver nanoparticle composite based on modified polyallylamine•Ag NPs are dispersed uniformly in the resin before and after reaction.•Ag NPS shows a high catalytic activity for the [3 + 2] Huisgen cycloaddition in water.•Ag NPs can be recovered and reused many times without activity loss.•The attractive features of this procedure are the green reaction conditions, excellent yields, and operational simplicity.

A silver nanoparticle composite based on modified polyallylamine has been synthesized by a simple chemical route and its catalytic activity has been tested for alkyne–azide cycloaddition reaction. This silver nanocomposite shows an excellent catalytic activity at 80 °C for the synthesis of 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazole by alkyne–azide cycloaddition. The solid silver nanocomposite catalyst was characterized by transmission electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometry and thermogravimetric analysis. The developed catalyst is stable in air, easy to prepare and can be recovered easily and reused ten times without a significant decrease in activity.

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