FeO@WO-E-SMTU-Ni: as an environmentally-friendly, recoverable, durable and noble-free nanostructured catalyst for C-C bond formation reaction in green media

• Published in: RSC advances 2024-01, Vol.14 (1), p.492-516
• Main Authors: Nayamadi Mahmoodabadi, Malihe, Akhlaghinia, Batool, Ein Afshar, Sima, Safarzadeh, Mostafa
• Format: Article
• ISSN: 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/d3ra07151k

In the present study, Ni II immobilized on Fe 3 O 4 @WO 3 functionalized by aminated epichlorohydrin using S -methylisothiourea (Fe 3 O 4 @WO 3 -E-SMTU-Ni II ) as a novel magnetically separable nanostructured catalyst was successfully synthesized and characterized using FT-IR, XRD, TEM, FE-SEM, EDX, EDX mapping, VSM, TGA, H 2 -TPR, ICP-OES and CHNS techniques. Characterization results revealed the spherical morphology and superparamagnetic behaviour of the as-synthesized catalyst with mean diameters of 19-31 nm as well as uniform distributions of the desired elements (Fe, O, W, C, N, S and Ni). The antibacterial activity of Fe 3 O 4 @WO 3 -E-SMTU-Ni II was evaluated against a set of Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria, and the catalyst showed considerable activity against the Staphylococcus aureus strain. The aforementioned nanostructured catalyst exhibited perfect catalytic efficiency in the Heck-Mizoroki and Suzuki-Miyaura reactions under mild conditions without using toxic solvents (EtOH as a green solvent and WEB as a benign base). Desired coupled products were obtained from the reaction of different Ar-X (X = I, Br, Cl) with alkyl acrylates and arylboronic acids. A high nickel content with negligible metal leaching during the course of reactions led to the high catalytic performance and stability of Fe 3 O 4 @WO 3 -E-SMTU-Ni II under optimized reaction conditions. The magnetically separation and ease of recovery and reusability of up to six cycles without a discernible decrease in catalytic activity or metal leaching are the most important features of the catalytic system from both industrial and environmental viewpoints. The synthesized Fe 3 O 4 @WO 3 -E-SMTU-Ni II represents a significant contribution in the field of heterogeneous nanocatalysts for C-C coupling reactions in green media.