Preparation and application of FNAOSiPPEA/Cu(II) as a novel magnetite almondshell based Lewis acid-Bronsted base nano-catalyst for the synthesis of pyrimidobenzothiazoles

BACKGROUND: The magnetic nano-catalysts improve the contact between substrates and catalyst considerably and simple isolation of catalyst from reaction mixture. In this study, Fe(3)O(4)@nano-almondshell@OSi(CH(2))(3)/2-(1-piperazinyl)ethylamine/Cu(II) abbreviated (FNAOSiPPEA/Cu(II)), was prepared, characterized and applied for the synthesis of 4H-pyrimido[2,1-b]benzothiazole. RESULTS: FNAOSiPPEA/Cu(II) as a bio-based nano-catalyst was prepared from the complexation of copper on 2-(1-piperazinyl)ethylamine, which was immobilized on Fe(3)O(4)@nano-almondshell@OSi(CH(2))(3) section. This new heterogeneous bifunctional Lewis acid/Bronsted base catalyst (FNAOSiPPEA/Cu(II)) was characterized by various techniques such as FT-IR, FESEM, TGA, EDS-MAP, XRD, VSM, BET, TEM, and XPS. So, the catalytic performance of this recyclable nano-catalyst was determined to promote the synthesis of 4H-pyrimido[2,1-b]benzothiazole derivatives at 100 °C under solvent-free conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Magnetite nano-catalyst of (FNAOSiPPEA/Cu(II)) is easily separated by an external magnet and successfully reused up at least 3 times with a slight loss of yield of the desired product. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13065-022-00838-6.