Magnetic Recyclable Cu/ZnFe2O4 for Catalytic Reduction of Nitroarenes and C-N Bond Formation Reactions

A magnetic recyclable Cu/ZnFe2O4 composite material was successfully prepared with easy-to-obtain raw materials. This obtained copper composite material could be employed as efficient catalyst for both degradation of aromatic nitro compounds and C-N bond formation reactions without extra ligands. The degradation reaction could be accomplished in 4 min with high selectivity. A variety of N-aryl nitrogen-containing heterocycles products could be achieved in good to excellent yields with Cu/ZnFe2O4 as the reusable catalyst and this environmentally friendly heterogeneous catalyst could simply be recovered via magnetic decantation and used again for six cycles without considerable loss in activity. Besides, the morphology, chemical state and magnetic property of Cu/ZnFe2O4 was systematically characterized with FT-IR, TGA, XRD, EDS, SEM, TEM, XPS, ICP-OES and VSM studies. A magnetic recyclable Cu/ZnFe2O4 composite material has been prepared as efficient catalyst for both degradation of aromatic nitro compounds and C-N bond formation reactions without extra ligands.