Stabilized Gold Nanoparticles on -Hydroxy Amide-Functionalized Graphene Oxide as a Robust Catalyst for Environmentally Benign Oxidation of Primary and Secondary Alcohols

Multi-component reactions (MCRs), one of the most powerful approaches to synthesizing complex structures from the fastest path, have grabbed much attention and have recently been used to functionalize the surface of nanomaterials. Here, we focus on an isocyanide-based multi- component reaction for one-pot functionalization of the graphene oxide surface. This led to α- hydroxy amide decorated graphene oxide with the ability to immobilize Gold nanoparticles and serve as a neoteric catalytic system. This nanocatalyst was characterized by means of SEM, TEM, ICP-OES, FTIR, XRD, Raman, and BET techniques. This employed multifunctional nanostructure as an efficient and recyclable heterogeneous aerobic catalyst for the oxidation of primary and secondary aliphatic and aromatic alcohols to their aldehydes and ketones in water at mild temperature in good to excellent yields. Further, this method showed that recycling of heterogeneous catalysts has a high possibility of being re-used with their performances as it was new with no sign of gold leaching.