An efficient synthesis of pyrano [2, 3-d] pyrimidines catalyzed by ZrO₂-CeO₂ nanoparticles and their anticancer evaluation

Zirconium doped cerium nanoparticles have been found to be an excellent heterogeneous catalyst for the one-pot multi-component reactions of Barbituric acid, aromatic aldehyde and malononitrile to yield the Pyrano(2,3-d) pyrimidine derivatives in aqueous media. The results showed that nanosized CeO₂ − ZrO₂ has a potential catalytic material for the synthesis of title compound. All the synthesized molecules were determined and characterised by chromatographic and spectroscopic (IR,¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, HR-MS) analysis. The formation, size and morphology of the metal ions present in the material is confirmed by powdered X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The synthesised compounds have shown good to excellent cytotoxicity against human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-453.