Application of Semiconducting 2H‐WSe2 Nanosheets in the Multicomponent One‐Pot Ugi and Ugi‐Smiles Reaction

Multicomponent reactions (MCRs) have gained popularity owing to their atom economic nature and short synthetic routes that provide access to structurally diverse and sometimes, pharmaceutically relevant scaffolds. However, these approaches rely mostly on the use of cost‐ineffective, irrecyclable small molecule‐based catalysts. The problem can be overcome largely by switching to the use of heterogeneous catalytic platforms. Among these, photoactive nanomaterials have garnered considerable interest. Despite their dynamic and modular properties, these systems have not been explored much for one‐pot reactions. In this work, we have demonstrated the utility of the semiconducting WSe 2 nanosheets en route to the imine intermediate(s), followed by the Ugi/Ugi Smiles reaction in the same pot to furnish a "toolbox" of α ‐acylaminoacylamide/ α ‐arylaminoamide derivatives. The recyclable nature of the catalyst and the scalability of the reaction with a broad scope are the added advantages of this protocol. These factors further highlight the industrial applicability of the strategy.