MgO Supported Al2O3 Oxide: A New, Efficient, and Reusable Catalyst for Synthesis of Chalcones

We have studied a series of mixed metal oxides of Mg-Al by a simple co-precipitation technique. Various characterization techniques, including XRD, SEM, EDS, TEM, BET and CO2-TPD were carried out to investigate their physicochemical properties. An efficient and facile protocol has been documented for the synthesis of chalcones using different aldehydes and acetophenone using Mg-Al oxide under reflux conditions in ethanol affording good to excellent yields. Recyclability of a catalyst is a significant feature of this protocol. Moreover, it was proposed that MgO can disperse and increase the basicity, pore size and catalytic activity.