ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Chem.
Sec. Organic Chemistry
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring Novel Pathways and Applications in Heterocyclic ChemistryView all 3 articles
GO/MNPs–TEA–CuI in Water: A Green and Efficient Catalytic System for Multicomponent Preparation of Highly Substituted Imidazoles and Oxazoles
Provisionally accepted
Mohamed Abu Shuheil1*
Ahmed Aldulaimi2Rekha M M3Subhashree Ray4Omayma Salim Waleed5C P. Surya6Renu Sharma7Vatsal Jain8- 1Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Amman, Jordan
- 2Al-Zahrawi University College, Karbala, Iraq
- 3JAIN (Deemed-to-be University), Bengaluru, India
- 4Siksha O Anusandhan, Bhubaneswar, India
- 5Al-Noor University, Mosul, Iraq
- 6Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology (Deemed to be University), Chennai, India
- 7Chandigarh University, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, India
- 8Chitkara University, Rajpura, India
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
A sustainable and highly efficient catalytic protocol has been developed employing graphene oxide-supported magnetic nanoparticles functionalized with triethanolamine and copper(I) iodide (GO/MNPs– TEA–CuI) for the synthesis of functionalized imidazole and oxazole derivatives. This magnetically recoverable catalyst promotes multicomponent coupling reactions between aryl aldehydes, aryl nitriles, and terminal alkynes in aqueous media under reflux conditions, emphasizing its environmentally benign nature. The system efficiently affords a broad scope of products in excellent yields (77–99%) within short reaction times (15–80 min for imidazoles and 1–8 h for oxazoles). The catalyst exhibits outstanding activity, attributed to the synergistic interaction between the GO surface, magnetic core, and Cu(I) active centers, resulting in high TON and TOF values. Moreover, it tolerates diverse functional groups, including electron-donating, electron-withdrawing, and heteroaromatic substituents, enabling versatility in substrate design. The catalyst can be conveniently separated using an external magnet and reused for several consecutive cycles without appreciable loss of efficiency. Overall, this green and recyclable catalytic system offers an economical and scalable approach for constructing nitrogen-and oxygen-containing heterocycles, providing a promising route for sustainable synthesis in pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries.
Keywords: Aqueous medium, GO/MNPs–TEA–CuI nanocatalyst, Imidazoles, Oxazoles, recyclable catalyst
Received: 26 Oct 2025; Accepted: 04 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Abu Shuheil, Aldulaimi, M M, Ray, Salim Waleed, Surya, Sharma and Jain. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mohamed Abu Shuheil
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.