Marine Sponge/CuO Nanocrystal: A Natural and Efficient Catalyst for Sulfonamides Synthesis

BACKGROUND Marine sponge/nano-CuO as a natural catalyst efficiently catalyzed the Sulfonylation reaction of p-chlorobenzene sulfonyl chlorides with amines in order to prepare sulfonamides. The advantages included use of a natural catalyst, ease of handling, requirement of a very small amount of catalyst, mild reaction condition and appropriateness to high yield. OBJECTIVES The current study aimed to look for a solid support reaction and to develop a general, mild and novel method in order to synthesize sulfonamides in the absence of a strong base, it was found that marine sponge/nano-CuO is a natural and efficient catalyst for this method at room temperature. MATERIALS AND METHODS The reaction was carried out simply by addition of amine and p -chlorobenzene sulfonyl chloride to the mixture of Marine sponge powder/nano-CuO in acetonitrile at room temperature. Then the reaction mixture was extracted by CH2Cl2 and was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate. Evaporation of the solvent afforded the products. RESULTS In this method several derivatives of sulfonamide underwent the reaction of different amines with p-chlorobenzene sulfonyl chloride in the presence of marine sponge/nano-CuO in CH3CN are synthesized. CONCLUSIONS In conclusion, a new, natural and efficient marine catalyst, and a marine sponge/nano-CuO were developed to synthesize sulfonamide derivatives in CH3CN in 75-93% yields. This method was applied to a wide range of aromatic and aliphatic amines under mild conditions.