Montmorillonite K10 Clay Accelerated One‐Pot Multicomponent Synthesis of Substituted 2‐Amino‐3,5‐dicarbonitrile‐6‐phenylsulfanylpyridines: Experimental and Theoretical Investigation

Abstract

Abstract2‐Amino‐3,5‐dicarbonitrile‐6‐phenylsulfanylpyridines occupy a prominent place among the physiologically and biologically active scaffolds owing to their therapeutic applications in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, asthma, urinary incontinence, kidney disease, the Hepatitis B infections, Creutzfeldt–Jacob disease, cancer, hypoxia/ischemia and epilepsy. A one‐pot, multicomponent condensation of aldehydes, malononitrile, and thiophenol catalyzed by Montmorillonite K10 clay afforded 2‐amino‐3,5‐dicarbonitrile‐6‐phenylsulfanylpyridines in good to excellent yields. All the products could be well characterized on the basis of spectral studies. The catalyst could be recycled three times without affecting the yields and even in the fourth recycling of the catalyst, the yield decreases marginally. This approach manifests environmentally benign feasibility in contexts of enhanced yields, milder conditions, short reaction times, and reusability of the catalyst. A theoretical study of a synthesized compound at the B3LYP/6–31 + G (d) level is additionally reported. Following the computation of the fundamental vibrational wavenumbers and intensities, it became evident that the observed and calculated wavenumbers were in perfect accord. Employing the same DFT level, Frontier molecular orbital (HOMO‐LUMO) energies, global reactivity descriptors, and molecular electrostatic potential were estimated for assessing the reactivity and possible sites for electrophilic and nucleophilic molecules. The outcomes prove that the compound exhibits significant kinetic stability.