Graphene based material as a base catalyst for solvent free Aldol condensation and Knoevenagel reaction at room temperature

•Graphene oxide (GO) was prepared by the modified Hummers method.•The activity of GO as a base catalyst was tested for the Aldol reaction.•GO was also used as catalyst for Knoevenagel condensation.•The activity of GO was tested at room temperature under solvent free condition.•GO can be reused up to five times.

Graphene oxide (GO) acts as a highly active heterogeneous base catalyst for a wide variety of reactions. Here we have described the catalytic activities of GO in the condensation reaction of various substituted benzaldehydes with acetophenone (aldol condensation) and with active methylene compound malononitrile (Knoevenagel reaction) at room temperature under solvent free condition. GO is characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–visible spectra, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and AFM. The experimental results showed that the GO had higher catalytic activity and it can be recycled without significant loss of its activity.

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