One pot synthesis of benzimidazole from o-nitroaniline was achieved by using CuFe₂O₄ as a catalyst. It comprises the reduction of o-nitroaniline followed by cyclization, without using an external H₂ source. The thermal decomposition of DMF in situ generates CO, which undergo water gas shift reaction (WGSR) in the presence of CuFe₂O₄ to produce hydrogen. It reduces −NO₂ (nitroaniline) to −NH₂ (o-phenylenediamine, OPD). The further cyclisation of OPD to benzimidazole was done by using DMF as a C1 source, in the presence of magnetically separable CuFe₂O₄ as catalyst. This is the first example of its kind being reported here. The catalyst was prepared by a simple hydrothermal method, with an environmentally benign starting material. CuFe₂O₄ is cheap and reusable having very low toxicity. This is an economical synthetic protocol for benzimidazole from o-nitroaniline with 100% conversion in 12 h with 97.5% selectivity. A variety of o-nitroaniline substrates were studied using the protocol with excellent conversion and selectivity in each case.

通过使用CuFe ₂ O ₄作为催化剂，由邻硝基苯胺一锅合成苯并咪唑。它包括在不使用外部H ₂源的情况下还原邻硝基苯胺，然后环化。DMF的热分解原位生成CO，在CuFe ₂ O ₄的存在下，CO发生水煤气变换反应（WGSR）以产生氢气。它将-NO ₂（硝基苯胺）还原为-NH ₂（邻苯二胺，OPD）。在磁性可分离的CuFe ₂ O存在下，通过使用DMF作为C1源，将OPD进一步环化为苯并咪唑₄作为催化剂。这是这里报道的同类的第一个例子。通过简单的水热法，使用对环境无害的起始原料制备催化剂。CuFe ₂ O ₄便宜且可重复使用，且毒性极低。这是从邻硝基苯胺合成苯并咪唑的经济方法，在12小时内100％转化，选择性为97.5％。使用该方案研究了各种邻硝基苯胺底物，在每种情况下均具有出色的转化率和选择性。