2,6-Dimethylpyridinium trinitromethanide {[2,6-DMPyH]C(NO2)3}, as a novel nanostructured molten salt, efficiently catalyzed the synthesis of 1,2,4,5-tetrasubstituted imidazole derivatives by a one-pot fourcomponent condensation reaction of benzil/benzoin, aldehydes, amine derivatives and ammonium acetate at room temperature under solvent-free conditions. Some advantages of the presented method are effective catalysis, excellent cost effectiveness and reusability of the catalyst. {[2,6-DMPyH]C(NO2)3} was fully characterized by IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and mass spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetry (TG) and derivative thermogravimetry (DTG) analyses
