Synthesis and Characterization of Fe 3 O 4 @SiO 2 @MgAl-LDH@Au.Pd as an Efficient and Magnetically Recyclable Catalyst for Reduction of 4-Nitrophenol and Suzuki Coupling Reactions

In the present study, the synthesis and characterization of magnetic nanocomposite Fe 3 O 4 @SiO 2 @MgAl-LDH@Au.Pd were reported and utilized in an efficient and environmentally benign protocol for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol and preparation of biphenyl derivatives. The synthesized nanocomposite was studied and identified by various analytical methods such as FT-IR, XRD, EDS, TEM, TGA, FESEM, VSM and XPS. Monitoring the progress of the reduction reaction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol was performed by UV–Vis analysis. According to the results, 4-nitrophenol was successfully converted to the corresponding 4-aminophenol using NaBH 4 in the presence of nanocomposite. Furthermore, the application of this magnetic nanocatalyst was also investigated in Suzuki coupling reaction. Consequently, the reactions of different aryl halides with phenylboronic acids led to the formation of corresponding biphenyl products in high-to-excellent yields. The recovery and reusability of Fe 3 O 4 @SiO 2 @MgAl-LDH@Au.Pd disclosed that it can be retrieved and reused for the next run up to 6 times with slight decline in its activity.