Tertiary amine ionic liquid incorporated Fe3O4 nanoparticles as a versatile catalyst for the Knoevenagel reaction

Abstract

In order to develop a functional ionic liquid catalyst with good stability and excellent catalytic effect on the organic reactions under alkaline conditions, a magnetic nanocatalyst of tertiary amine ionic liquid incorporated Fe3O4 was prepared and applied in the Knoevenagel reaction, the catalyst exhibits good stability and excellent catalytic performance in the Knoevenagel reaction, short reaction time and excellent yields of Knoevenagel products were obtained. In addition, the catalyst can be separated rapidly under the external magnetic force and reused for 8 times without significant loss of activity. Through the activity comparison of the catalyst and the FTIR, XRD, TG, VSM, SEM, TEM, and BET analysis, the excellent catalytic effect of the catalyst may be attributed to the synergistic effect of the catalytic action of tertiary amine, ionic liquid structure and the small size and strong surface effect of nanoparticles.