OICC Press Iranian Journal of Catalysis 2345-4865 3 1 2024 02 03 Synthesis of 5-amino-1-aryl-4-cyanoimidazoles from formamidines under solvent-free condition EN Farhad Shirini Department of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran 0000-0002-7204-5000 Fatamah Tavakoli Department of Chemistry, University of Guilan, P.O. Box 41335-1914, Rasht, I.R. Iran. Journal Article 2024 02 03 The aryl-(Z)-N-[2-amino-1,2-dicyanovinyl]formamidine 2 cyclize in solvent-free conditions and in the presence of a base to give a 5-amino-1-aryl-4-cyanoimidazoles 3. Silica sulfuric acid as an efficient and reusable heterogeneous catalyst has been used for the preparation of amidines 2 from formimidate 1 through reaction with aromatic amines at room temperature and in good to excellent yields. All these derivatives were fully characterized by spectroscopic data.