Fabrication of a novel organic-inorganic hybrid nanocatalyst and its application for the synthesis of bis(pyrazolyl)methanes

A novel organic-inorganic hybrid nanomaterial was fabricated by anchoring an organic constituent possessing a 4,4′-bipyridine framework to nano-silica (as an inorganic constituent). The nanomaterial, namely 1-(Si-pr)-[4,4′-bipyridine]-1,1ʹ-diium dihydrogen phosphate anchored to nano-silica (SPBDS), was characterized by EDS, elemental mapping, FE-SEM, FT-IR, XRD, and TG analyses. Thereafter, bis(pyrazolyl)methanes were successfully constructed through the solvent-free reaction of 3-methyl-1-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-5(4H)-one (2 eq.) and aryl aldehydes (1 eq.) using SPBDS. The catalyst was reusable nine times without a significant decrement in its performance.