Synthesis, characterization and catalytic activity of CoFe2O4-APTES-Pd magnetic recyclable catalyst

A new magnetically recyclable catalyst, CoFe2O4-APTES-Pd(0) nanocomposite, as highly effective catalysts for reduction reactions in liquid phase was fabricated and characterized. The reduction of Pd2+ was accomplished with sodium borohydride (NaBH4). The chemical characterization of the product was done with X-ray diffractometry, infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma. It was found that the combination of CoFe2O4 and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) could give rise to structurally stable catalytic sites. Furthermore, the high magnetization CoFe2O4-APTES-Pd(0) catalyst can be recovered by magnet and reused for ten runs for hydrogenation reaction of 4-nitro aniline, 1,3 dinitro and cyclohexanone. The catalyst was easily isolated from the reaction mixture by a magnetic bar and reused at least 10 times without significant degradation in the activity which shows the indicative of a potential applications of these catalysts in industry.