Recently, microwave-assisted solvent-free synthesis 1 in organic reactions has been of growing interest as an efficient, economic and clean procedure ('green chemistry'). 2 Over the past few years, a considerable number of reactions have been developed in which inorganic solid supports such as aluminas, silica gels and montmorillonites appeared to be useful in terms of mildness of conditions, yield and convenience. 3 We have shown earlier that diethyl malonate, ...