Exploitation the unique acidity of novel cerium-tungstate catalysts in the preparation of indole derivatives under eco-friendly acid catalyzed Fischer indole reaction protocol

Solid acidic cerium tungstate catalysts containing different molar ratios of cerium and tungstate were prepared by direct solvothermal methodology. The structure of the prepared catalysts was deeply studied and confirmed based on different characterization techniques such as DTA-TGA, FTIR, Raman spectra, XRD and N₂ adsorption measurements. Moreover, FTIR and TPD of chemically adsorbed pyridine techniques were conducted to fully address the nature and the strength of the acidic sites of the prepared catalysts. The study showed that at a lower molar ratio of tungstate, the catalyst contains cerium oxide phase and slight participation of cerium tungstate phase, which gradually increases with further increase of tungstate molar ratio. This phase change was also accompanied by a noticeable change in the thermal stability, surface area and acidic properties of the prepared catalysts. Additionally, the techniques used to study the acidic properties showed an excellent enhancement in the acidic centers. It was also noted that the strength of these acidic centers reached the maximum in the case of using tungstate: cerium molar ratio 2:1 (CeW2.0) catalyst, and slightly decreased thereafter. By exploiting the acidic properties of the prepared catalysts, a series of indole derivatives were synthesized via the Fischer indole synthesis strategy. The results also showed that ～100% of indole derivatives were obtained using 0.02 g catalyst at 80 °C after 2 h only. Moreover, the Reuse experiment demonstrated the possibility of recycling and reusing the catalyst through many cycles with high efficiency, indicating its wonderful constancy and reusability.