NiO nanoparticles catalyzed three component coupling reaction of aldehyde, amine and terminal alkynes

•Facile and efficient synthesis of NiO nanoparticles using microwave irradiation.•Benzylamine acts as solvent, base, promoter.•Proposed mechanism for formation of NiO NPs with benzylamine.•NiO NPs catalyzed the three component coupling of aldehyde, amine and terminal alkynes.•NiO NPs show excellent catalytic activity with recyclability of nanocatalyst.

This work reports a simple, microwave assisted facile and efficient protocol for the synthesis of nickel oxide nanoparticles (NiO NPs) by using only two reagents i.e. nickel acetate and benzylamine. Nickel acetate reacts with benzylamine to give nickel hydroxide and which on calcination give NiO NPs. Benzylamine plays various role in this reaction such as solvent, reactant and stabilizer. The developed protocol is faster, economically viable and environmentally benign as it is additive free. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) reveals the particles are in nano range and X-ray diffraction (XRD) data shows crystalline nature of NiO NPs. The prepared NiO NPs were used as heterogeneous catalyst for three component coupling reaction of aldehyde, amine with terminal alkynes. The catalyst could be recycled up to fourth run without significant loss in the catalytic activity.

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