Ligand complex of copper (II) supported on superparamagnetic Fe3O4@SiO2 nanoparticles: an efficient and magnetically separable catalyst for N-arylation of nitrogen-containing heterocycles with aryl halides

In this study, we introduce the ligand complex of copper (II) supported on superparamagnetic Fe3O4@SiO2 nanoparticles as a highly intriguing magnetic catalyst in N-arylation of nitrogen heterocycles with aryl halides. The present methodology offers several advantages such as; low catalyst loading, the use of magnetically recoverable and reusable catalyst, high to excellent yields without using any external ligands or additives, short reaction times and simplicity of operation. Also, the magnetic catalyst could be easily separated from the final product by an external magnet and reused up to seven times without any significant loss of activity. Therefore, this separation strategy with negligible leaching makes Fe3O4@SiO2/ligand/Cu(II) an economical catalyst to perform this transformation.