Research on heterogeneous catalysts with characteristics such as recyclability, insolubility, and easy separation hasbeen recently advanced by green chemistry. Wood ash, with high amounts of the abovementioned metal oxides, seems asuitable alternative used in reactions that need base catalysts. To synthesize α-aminonitrile benzofuran, the 2,4-hydroxyacetophenone and isopropenyl acetylene was mixed and stirred in the presence of Water Extract of Wood Ash(WEWA) catalyst, followed by the addition of amine derivatives and stirring over a 15-minute period. The addition oftrimethylsilyl cyanide and its stirring for another 120 minutes were the next steps. Various natural resources were used toprepare several wood ash catalysts using different combustion temperatures. FT-IR, SEM, TEM, and XRD methods wereutilized to characterize the catalysts. The catalytic efficacy of the resulting catalysts was examined in synthesizing derivatives of α-amino nitrile. As shown by the experimental results, the preparation of the catalysts at a temperature of 850 °C effectively promoted the multicomponent synthesis of α-amino nitrile derivatives in aqueous media, leading to significantly great productivity. Manuscript profile

An efficient route reported to the application of palladium nanoparticles dispersed on 2-aminopyrimidine functionalized cellulose nanocrystal (CNC-AMPD-Pd) as a novel, suitable and reusable catalyst in the one-pot, three component synthesis of different α-aminonitriles at ambient temperature under solvent free reaction conditions. The heterogeneous catalyst could be easily separated from the reaction mixture and reused at least 6 times with no significant loss of catalytic activity. Manuscript profile