Imidazole-Functionalized Porous Graphene Oxide Nanosheets Loaded with Palladium Nanoparticles for the Oxidative Amidation of Aldehydes

In this study, 1-(3-aminopropyl)imidazole-functionalized porous graphene oxide nanosheets (GONs) decorated with palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs; size, ∼11 nm) have been developed. This has been accomplished via covalent immobilization of amine-terminated imidazolium moieties over GONs, which were further decorated with Pd NPs by employing chemical reduction method. To authenticate the successful preparation of a nanocatalyst (i.e., GO-Imd-Pd), numerous physicochemical characterization techniques, such as FT-IR, XRD, TEM, TGA, SEM, EDAX, XPS, CHN, ICP-MS, and BET surface area analysis, have been utilized. The synthesized hybrid nanomaterial could validate its supremacy as a highly efficacious and heterogeneous nanocatalyst for the oxidative amidation of aldehydes. The prepared hybrid nanomaterial could offer Lewis acidic sites, which could help in the activation of reactant molecules, thereby delivering a high yield of the product. The prepared hybrid nanomaterial could be effortlessly separated from the reaction mixture by simple centrifugation technique. Also, the prepared nanocatalyst showed magnificent recyclability up to six catalytic runs without any perceptible loss in its activity and showed no sign of disintegration.