Novel and cost-effective biocatalyst consisting of nanofibrillated cellulose and TiCl3 for the synthesis of 2,3′-dihydroquinazolin-4-(1H)-ones

A novel and cost-effective catalyst for synthesis of 2,3'-dihydroquinazolin-4-(1H)-ones was developed utilizing a combined nanocomposite obtained from bonding TiCl3 to hydroxyl groups of nanofibrillated cellulose as a green and inexpensive support. The structure of the catalyst was investigated using the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) techniques and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The prepared new nanopolymer-based composite has been investigated successfully to obtain some 2,3'-dihydroquinazolin-4-(1H)-ones via the reaction of 2-aminobenzamide and various kinds of aldehydes/cyclic ketones in refluxing ethanol. Short reaction times, the low amount of catalyst, high yields of products, utilizing a wide-range of aldehydes/ketones, easy work-up procedure, in addition to the accelerating effect of the newly synthesized biodegradable nano composite, are some highlighted features of the reported protocol.