NiFe2O4@SiO2@ZrO2/SO42-/Cu/Co nanoparticles: a novel, efficient, magnetically recyclable and bimetallic catalyst for Pd-free Suzuki, Heck and C-N cross-coupling reactions in aqueous media

The novel heterogeneous bimetallic nanoparticles of Cu-Co were synthesized based on magnetic nanoparticles, and the magnetic nanocatalyst was characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, EDX mapping, BET, TEM, HRTEM, FTIR, TGA, and VSM. This catalyst was successfully applied as a recyclable magnetically catalyst in Heck, Suzuki, and C-N cross-coupling reactions with various aryl halides (iodides, bromides, and chlorides as challengeable substrates), with olefins, phenylboronic acid, and amines, respectively. We considered the rise of synergetic effects from the different Lewis acid and Bronsted acid sites present in the catalyst. The catalyst was synthesized with cheap, available materials and a simple synthesis method. The catalyst can be separated easily using an external magnet. It was recycled for more than ten runs without a sensible loss of its catalytic activity, and no significant leaching of the Cu and Co quantity was observed. The significant benefits of the method are high-level generality, simple operation, and there are no heavy metals and toxic solvents. This is a quick, easy, efficacious and environmentally friendly protocol, and no by-products are formed in the reaction. These features make it an appropriate practical alternative protocol. In comparison with recent works, the other advantage of this catalyst is the synthesis of a wide variety of C-C and C-N bond derivatives (more than 40 derivatives). The other significant advantage is the low temperature of the reaction and the use of the least possible amount of the catalyst (0.003 g). The efficiency was good to excellent and the catalyst selectivity has been high. We aspire that our study inspires more interest to design novel catalysts based on using low-cost metal ions (such as cobalt and copper) in the cross-coupling reactions.