Fe3O4@SiO2@CSH+VO3- as a novel recyclable heterogeneous catalyst with core-shell structure for oxidation of sulfides

Iron nanoparticles, with low toxicity and many active sites, are among the materials that not only reduce waste along with green chemistry but also increase the separation power and recover the catalyst from the reaction environment. In this study, first, the surface of iron nanoparticles was silanized, and in the next step, the complex of chitosan HCl.VO3 was placed on the surface of Fe3O4 (Fe3O4@SiO2@CSH+VO3-). This nanocatalyst is a novel, recoverable, and potent nanocatalyst with high selectivity for the oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides. Various physicochemical techniques such as IR, XRD, TGA, SEM, EDX, mapping, TEM, and VSM were used to affirm the well synthesis of the catalyst. Oxidation of sulfides in the presence of hydrogen peroxide as a green oxidant and in ethanol was catalyzed by the Fe3O4@SiO2@CSH+VO3-. All sulfoxides were achieved with high efficiency and in a short time. The notable privileges of this method include facile and economic catalyst synthesis, proper catalyst durability, great performance, simple catalyst isolation, good recovery capability, at least up to 5 times without an index drop in catalytic power.

Efficient Construction of Symmetrical Diaryl Sulfides via a Supported Pd Nanocatalyst-Catalyzed C-S Coupling Reaction

Aryl sulfides play an important role in pharmaceuticals, biologically active molecules and polymeric materials. Herein, a general and efficient protocol for Pd@COF-TB (a kind of Pd nanocatalyst supported by a covalent organic framework)/DIPEA-catalyzed one-pot synthesis of symmetrical diaryl sulfides through a C-S coupling reaction from aryl iodides and Na₂S₂O₃ is developed. More importantly, the addition of N,N-diisopropylethylamine (DIPEA) can not only enhance the catalytic activity of a Pd@COF-TB nanocatalyst, but also effectively inhibit the formation of biphenyl byproducts, which are a product of Ullmann reaction. Besides, it has been confirmed that the aryl Bunte salts generated in situ from Na₂S₂O₃ and aryl iodides are the sulfur sources involved in this C-S coupling reaction. With the strategy proposed in this work, a variety of symmetrical diaryl sulfides could be obtained in moderate to excellent yields with a high tolerance of various functional groups. Moreover, a possible mechanism of this Pd nanoparticle-catalyzed C-S coupling reaction is proposed based on the results of controlling experiments.

Recyclable magnetically retrievable nanocatalysts for C–heteroatom bond formation reactions

During recent years, magnetic separation has proven to be a highly indispensable and sustainable tool for facile separation of catalysts from the reaction medium with the aid of only an external magnetic force that precludes the requirement of energy intensive, solvent based centrifugation or filtration techniques. Extensive research in the area of catalysis has clearly divulged that while designing any catalyst, the foremost features that need to be paid due attention to include high activity, ready recoverability and good reusability. Fortunately, the magnetic nanocatalysts involving a superparamagnetic core material that could comprise of iron oxides such as magnetite, maghemite or hematite or mixed ferrites (CoFe2O4, CuFe2O4) have offered bright prospects of designing the ideal catalysts by proving their efficacy as strong support material that could be further engineered with various tools of nanotechnology and efficiently catalyze various C–heterobond formation reactions. This chapter provides succinct overview of all the approaches utilized for fabricating different types of magnetic nanoparticles and strategies adopted for imparting them durability. The prime forte however remains to exclusively showcase the applications of the various types of magnetic nanocatalysts in C–O, C–N, C–S and miscellaneous (C–Se, C–Te) bond formation reactions which are anticipated to benefit the synthetic community on a broad spectrum by helping them rationalize and analyze the key features that need to be taken into account, while developing these magical nanostructured catalytic systems for boosting the green bond formation reactions/transformations.