Fe3O4@SiO2@CSH+VO3− as a novel recyclable heterogeneous catalyst with core–shell structure for oxidation of sulfides

Abstract

Iron nanoparticles, with low toxicity and many active sites, are among the materials that not only reduce waste along with green chemistry but also increase the separation power and recover the catalyst from the reaction environment. In this study, first, the surface of iron nanoparticles was silanized, and in the next step, the complex of chitosan HCl.VO3 was placed on the surface of Fe3O4 (Fe3O4@SiO2@CSH+VO3−). This nanocatalyst is a novel, recoverable, and potent nanocatalyst with high selectivity for the oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides. Various physicochemical techniques such as IR, XRD, TGA, SEM, EDX, mapping, TEM, and VSM were used to affirm the well synthesis of the catalyst. Oxidation of sulfides in the presence of hydrogen peroxide as a green oxidant and in ethanol was catalyzed by the Fe3O4@SiO2@CSH+VO3−. All sulfoxides were achieved with high efficiency and in a short time. The notable privileges of this method include facile and economic catalyst synthesis, proper catalyst durability, great performance, simple catalyst isolation, good recovery capability, at least up to 5 times without an index drop in catalytic power.