In-situ immobilization of silver nanoparticles on ZSM-5 type zeolite by catechol redox chemistry, a green catalyst for A3-coupling reaction

•A facile and green method to immobilize silver nanoparticles on the surface of ZSM-5 zeolite.•Diverse range of proparglyamines in high yields with a shorter reaction time.•Excellent catalytic activity after three cycles with only a slight decrease.•First report on mussel-inspired surface chemistry for the production of propargylamines.

For the first time in literature, we used a mussel-inspired surface chemistry for the production of propargylamines by the immobilization of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on the surface of mesoporous ZSM-5 zeolite. The ZSM-5 zeolite has a large surface area with a porous structure and provides a sufficient reaction space for monodisperse silver nanoparticles, resulting in high catalytic activity for the production of propargylamines with a shorter reaction time. The catalyst was recovered easily and could be used for three cycles without any significant loss in catalytic activity. N2 adsorption/desorption, ICP-AES, XRD, XPS, FE-SEM, TEM and FT-IR experiments were carried out to characterize the heterogeneous catalysts of this study.

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