Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Nanoparticles Volume 2013, Article ID 546194, 5 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/546194 Research Article CuO-CeO 2 Nanocomposite: An Efficient Recyclable Catalyst for the Synthesis of Aryl-14H -dibenzo[a-j]xanthenes Jalal Albadi, 1 Abdolhossein Razeghi, 2 Hossein Abbaszadeh, 3 and Azam Mansournezhad 3 1 College of Science, Behbahan Khatam Alanbia University of Technology, Behbahan 736254, Iran 2 Catalysis and Reaction Engineering, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran 3 Departmaent of Chemistry, Gachsaran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Gachsaran, Iran Correspondence should be addressed to Jalal Albadi; jalal.albadi@gmail.com Received 7 January 2013; Revised 16 February 2013; Accepted 20 February 2013 Academic Editor: Hamed Bahmanpour Copyright © 2013 Jalal Albadi et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. CuO-CeO 2 nanocomposite is reported as a highly efcient recyclable catalyst that is applied for the synthesis of Aryl-14H- dibenzo[a-j]xanthenes under solvent-free conditions. Te catalyst was synthesized by coprecipitation method and characterized by X-ray powder difraction (XRD), BET specifc surface area, feld emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis. Te copper nanoparticles are dispersed as fne and amorphous phases on the surface of ceria and made nanoclusters with average size of about 33nm. Tis catalyst can be recovered by simple fltration and recycled up to 8 consecutive runs without any losing of its efciency. Tis procedure provides several advantages such as simple workup, mild reaction conditions, short reaction times, and high yields of the products. 1. Introduction In recent years, nanocatalysis has emerged as a sustainable and competitive alternative to conventional catalyst since the nanoparticles possess a high-surface-to-volume ratio, which enhances their activity and selectivity, while, at the same time, maintaining the intrinsic features of a heterogeneous catalyst [1]. In particular, nanocrystalline oxides have proved to be useful to chemists in the laboratory and industry due to the good activation of adsorbed compounds and reaction rate enhancement, selectivity, easier workup and recyclability of the supports, and the eco-friendly green reaction conditions [2–6]. Also, the practical applications of nanocomposite metal oxides as the catalysts in organic synthesis have been increased due to their high catalytic activity because of the high surface area [7, 8]. Te recyclability of the catalyst is the added advantage in the case of these catalysts. Te catalytic activity of CuO-CeO 2 nanocomposite is well known for the oxidation of CO in H 2 -rich streams [9]. Xanthene derivatives are important class of compounds that received signifcant attention from many pharmaceutical and organic chemists because of the broad spectrum of their biological and pharmaceutical properties such as antibacterial [10], anti-infammatory [11], and antivirial properties [12]. Fur- thermore, these compounds are used as dyes and fuorescent material for visualization of biomolecules and in laser tech- nologies due to their useful spectroscopic properties [13, 14]. Aryl-14H-dibenzo[a-j]xanthenes are among the most impor- tant classes in the family of xanthenes due to their distinctive structures and great potential for the further transformations [15]. Various methods have been reported for the synthesis of Aryl-14H-dibenzo[a-j]xanthenes; among these methods, the one-pot condensation of -naphthol with aldehydes is the most common procedure. Terefore, various catalysts have been developed for the improvement of this reaction [16– 25]. In the continuation of our research program to develop the efcient, and green catalysts in organic synthesis [26– 29], herein, we wish to report a green, efcient and recyclable catalyst for the synthesis of Aryl-14H-dibenzo[a-j]xanthenes under solvent-free conditions (Scheme 1). 2. Experimental All products were identifed by the comparison of their spec- tral and physical data with authentic samples. Chemicals (2- naphthol, aromatic aldehydes, cerium, and copper nitrates)