Facile one-pot clean synthesis of benzimidazole motifs: Exploration on bismuth nitrate accelerated subtle catalysis

In the present letter, an efficient, clean and one-pot synthesis of 2-substituted benzimidazole and 1,2-disubstituted benzimidazole derivatives has been explored by reacting o-phenylenediamine with aromatic aldehydes using bismuth nitrate as a catalyst in ethanol at ambient temperature. This methodology avails with faster reactions, excellent yield, mild reaction conditions, use of inexpensive and non-toxic catalyst compared to literature reported hitherto.