Acid-activated clay as heterogeneous and reusable catalyst for the synthesis of bioactive cyclic ketal derivatives

A new heterogeneous acid catalyst based on a natural resource, Tunisian clay (Clay-H0.5), has been prepared and characterized by FT-IR, FE-SEM, and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), as well as chemical composition, cation exchange capacity, specific surface area, and pore volume. Acid treatment for 0.5 h enlarged the surface area from 78.24 to 186.10 m2/g and pore volume (PV) from 0.186 to 0.281 cm3/g. The catalytic activity of this material was investigated in ketalization reaction under mild solvent-free conditions. This achieved up to 92% isolated yield for only 10 wt.% of the catalyst. This environmentally friendly method has advantages such as simple work-up procedure, avoidance of organic solvents, and good performance in ketalization reactions.