One-pot synthesis of symmetrical and asymmetrical diphenylamines from guanidines with aryl iodide using Cu/Cu2O nanocatalyst

This work reports the selective one-pot synthesis of symmetrical and asymmetrical amines from guanidines as ammonia surrogate. The use of guanidine as ammonia source will eliminate the need of handling liquid ammonia. The reaction was performed using Cu/Cu2O nanocatalyst under ligand-free condition. The synthesized catalyst was characterized by a various technique like XRD, FEG-SEM, HRTEM and XPS. The different diphenylamines are produced in good to very good yields. Recyclability study of catalyst shows that up to five cycles there is no significant loss in its activity.