Several perimidines were prepared in good to high yields by reaction of 1,8-diaminonaphthalene and aromatic aldehydes in the presence of molecular iodine as a highly efficient catalyst. This environmentally benign and clean synthetic procedure offers several advantages, such as high yields, short reaction times and easy workup. Antibacterial activity of these compounds was evaluated using Staphylococcus aureus (mm) and Escherichia coli (mm) bacterial strains.