Fabrication of an imidazolium-based magnetic ionic porous organic polymer for efficient heterogeneous catalysis of Betti reaction

General route for preparation of Betti products by using Im-MIPOP as catalyst. [Display omitted] •A new heterogeneous imidazolium-based magnetic ionic porous organic polymer namely Im-MIPOP was synthesized.•Im-MIPOP was characterized using FT-IR, XRD, EDX, elemental mapping, SEM, TEM, VSM and TGA/DTG analysis.•Im-MIPOP was successfully applied as catalyst in Betti-base reaction. In this study, post modification of the imidazole units in the porous organic polymer (POP) via the formation of imidazolium salt is reported. Addition of FeCl3 to anionic moiety of POP leads to synthesis of magnetic ionic POP namely Im-MIPOP which is applied as a heterogeneous catalytic system. This polymer was characterized by different analytical techniques including Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), elemental mapping analysis, vibrating-sample magnetometer (VSM), thermo gravimetric analysis/derivative thermo gravimetric (TGA/DTG) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) methods. Due to unique structure and active centers of Im-MIPOP, we delve its catalytic potential for the Betti reaction by using 2-naphtol, different amines and aldehydes. High yields (up to 93 %), short reaction times and also, the acceptable recyclability and reusing capability, are the main advantages of the reported heterogeneous method.