Arabian Journal of Chemistry (Apr 2020)
Fruit waste (Pulp) decorated CuO NFs as promising platform for enhanced catalytic response and its peroxidase mimics evaluation
Abstract
Herein, we report for the first time, an eco-compatible hydrothermal route for the synthesis of carbon enriched mesoporous material (CuO NFs@MP) using fruit waste (Pulp) obtained from Citrus limetta’s (Mausambi) decorated irregular shaped CuO nanoflakes (NFs). The CuO NFs@MP nanocomposite was fully characterized through several spectroscopic-cum-analytical techniques such as TEM and XPS, which further confirmed the presence of CuO NFs. CuO NFs@MP could serve as an excellent catalyst for N-Arylation reaction and also paves promising peroxidase mimic activity. The preliminary results indicated that CuO NFs@MP shows the catalytic advantage of higher yields, shorter reaction time and greener conditions. Simultaneously, the oxidation of colorless TMB with H2O2 into blue-green colored ox-TMB was also observed in 60 s with CuO NFs@MP. The present nanocomposite is easy to synthesize, economical, retrievable and a reusable catalyst for synthesizing a varied range of N-Arylated products and could also mimic peroxidase without significant loss of activity. Keywords: Fruit waste (Pulp), Copper oxide Nanoflakes, Porous Carbon, N-Arylation, Peroxidase mimic activity