Borax: An Ecofriendly and Efficient Catalyst for One-Pot Synthesis of 3,4-Dihydropyrimidine-2(1H)-ones under Solvent-Free Conditions

Borax in the presence of a very small amount of 5 M sulfuric acid efficiently catalyses the three-component condensation of an aldehyde, β-ketoester, and urea or thiourea to afford the corresponding 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones or 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-thiones in good to excellent yields under solvent-free conditions at 80 °C. Compared with the classical Biginelli reaction conditions, this new method has the advantage of excellent yield, short reaction time (1–2 h), easy workup, and no use of volatile organic solvent.