The Use of Animal Bone Meal doped with zinc bromide as a reusable heterogeneous catalyst for the synthesis of 5-arylhydantoins

ZnBr2/ABM as a catalyst for the synthesis of 5-arylhydantoins

Abstract

The Animal Bonne Meal (ABM) analog doped with zinc bromide (ZnBr₂/ABM) was used as a new catalyst to induce Friedel–Crafts alkylation between 5-bromohydantoin and aromatic compounds. The use of phenol can always lead to the two isomers ortho and para. This reaction can be extended to other aromatic systems such as anisole and thiophene with similar yields but with total selectivity toward 5-(4-methoxyphenyl)hydantoin and 5-(2-thienyl)hydantoin, respectively. The catalytic activity of ZnBr₂/ABM catalyst was investigated. Moreover, the catalyst can be easily separated and reused several times while preserving good catalytic performance. The proposed mechanism for the synthesis of 5-arylhydantoins is also discussed.