Synthesis, characterization, and catalytic activity of supported molybdenum Schiff base complex as a magnetically recoverable nanocatalyst in epoxidation reaction

Abstract

A heterogeneous nanocatalyst was prepared via covalent anchoring of dioxomolybdenum(VI) Schiff base complex on core–shell structured Fe₃O₄@SiO₂. The properties and the nature of the surface-fixed complex have been identified by a series of characterization techniques such as SEM, EDX, XRD, TGA, FT-IR, and VSM. The synthesized hybrid material was an efficient nanocatalyst for selective oxidation of olefins to corresponding epoxides with t-BuOOH in high yields and selectivity. The catalyst could be conveniently recovered by applying an external magnetic field and reused several times without significant loss of efficiency.

Keywords:

• Molybdenum complex
• magnetic nanoparticles
• heterogeneous catalyst
• schiff base
• epoxidation reaction

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Research Council of University of Guilan for financial support of this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.