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.