Magnetic Fe3O4 Nanoparticles as Efficient and Reusable Catalyst for the Green Synthesis of 2-Amino-4H-chromene in Aqueous Media

A simple and efficient protocol for one-pot three-component coupling of aldehyde, malononitrile, and resorcinol in water using magnetically recoverable Fe3O4 nanoparticles at room temperature is reported. The high yields of products and short reaction time were attributed to the nanosize of about 18 nm in which the catalyst could act as a nanoreactor. This methodology is found to be fairly general and catalyst is easily separated by magnetic devices and can be reused without any apparent loss of activity for the reaction.