Cellulose sulfonic acid as a green, efficient, and reusable catalyst for Nazarov cyclization of unactivated dienones and pyrazoline synthesis

A high yielding, eco-friendly and simple procedure for the synthesis of five membered carbo-and heterocycles through cellulose sulfonic acid (CSA) mediated electrocyclization processes has been developed. Cellulose sulfonic acid (CSA) not only was able to induce the cyclization of "unactivated" dienones generating cyclopentenoids; it was also able to trigger the cyclization of alpha,beta-unsaturated hydrazones giving rise to pyrazolines in excellent yields under green reaction conditions. The ease of catalyst recovery and reusability, short reaction time, simple experimental and work-up procedure; compared to the conventional methods, makes this protocol practical, environmentally friendly and economically desirable. The cellulose-SO3H (CSA) was characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analyses, and catalyst stability was judged by thermogravimetry/differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA). The catalyst can be recycled several times without significant loss of catalytic activity.