Sustainable copper nanocomposite for multicomponent synthesis of triazolo quinolines and triazolyl benzamide derivatives and their bioactivity study†

Herein, we report an efficient methodology for the preparation of a heterogeneous sustainable magnetically separable Cu@PANI@Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite, and its catalytic efficiency in multicomponent reactions for the synthesis of triazolo quinolines and triazolyl benzamide derivatives is investigated. The Cu@PANI@Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite is characterized by several analytical techniques such as PXRD, FE-SEM, ICP-OES, HR-TEM, XPS, VSM, and TG-DTA to understand its crystallinity, chemical composition, morphology, and magnetic properties. A series of triazolo quinolines and triazolyl benzamide derivatives are synthesized in good to excellent yields under greener reaction conditions. A detailed mechanistic investigation by control experiments and DFT calculations has been performed to validate the proposed mechanism. Additionally, anti-cancer studies of the synthesized triazolo quinoline derivatives were performed and they were screened against colon carcinoma cell lines (HCT116) and subjected to MTT assay, showcasing good activity against the cells with IC₅₀ of 28–45 μM. Further, gram-scale synthesis, recyclability of the nanocomposite and its utility in up to five consecutive cycles were deliberated.