Microwave-induced calcium(II) chloride-catalyzed Paal-Knorr pyrrole synthesis: a safe, expeditious, and sustainable protocol

摘要

Among various alkali (Na, K) and alkaline-earth (Ca, Mg, Sr, Ba) chlorides, calcium(II) chloride was found to be a cost-effective Lewis acid catalyst for solvent-free synthesis of pyrroles from primary aromatic and aliphatic amines under open-vessel focused microwave irradiation. The salient features of this environmentally benign method are high to quantitative conversion, short reaction time, safe and clean reaction profile, possibility of scale-up to multigram quantities, and use of a low-cost, widely available, nontoxic catalyst.