A magnetically recoverable nanocatalyst based on functionalized mesoporous silica

•Synthesis of a 2D-hexagonally ordered thiol functionalized mesoporous silica.•Magnetically recoverable nanocatalyst with high BET surface area.•Esterification/transesterification for the synthesis of biodiesels at room temperature.•Lewis acidity of the grafted Fe3O4 nanoparticles

A magnetically separable 2D-hexagonally ordered thiol functionalized mesoporous silica material (Fe@TFMS) has been synthesized through co-condensation reaction of 3-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane (MPTES) and tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a cationic surfactant followed by immobilization of Fe3O4 nanocrystallies at the functionalized mesopore surface. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption/desorption analysis, FT-IR, TEM, FE-SEM, TGA/DTA, CHNS, XPS and NH3-TPD tools are employed to characterize the materials. This functionalized mesoporous material exhibited high catalytic activity in the biodiesel production from a wide range of long chain fatty acids and soybean oil. The material showed high Lewis acidity of 1.02 mmolg−1 with a good Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area of 411 m2 g−1. Fe@TFMS exhibited excellent catalytic efficiency for this esterification reaction using methanol as a solvent cum reactant under eco-friendly and mild reaction conditions (room temperature, 25 °C).

Graphical abstractA magnetically recoverable functionalized mesoporous material has been synthesized through co-condensation of organosilanes followed by immobilization of Fe3O4 nanocrystallies and it showed excellent catalytic activity for the synthesis of biodiesel products room temperature.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (123 K)Download as PowerPoint slide