Zeinab Imani - Department Of Chemistry, Bojnourd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bojnourd, Iran
Seyed Mahdi Saadati - Department Of Chemistry, Bojnourd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bojnourd, Iran

A simple, highly efficient and eco-friendly protocol for the synthesis of 2,4,5-trisubstituted-1H-imidazoles via one-pot three component condensation of benzil, aldehydes and ammonium acetate under solvent-free conditions has been achieved utilizing vitamin B12 as catalyst. This methodology has number of advantages such as: use of green and nonhazardous catalyst, clean work up, solvent-free conditions, short reaction times, high yields and no need to column chromatography.

Imidazole, Vitamin B12, Three component reaction, Solvent-free