Tetra-n-butylammonium decatungstate supported on Fe3O4 nanoparticles: a novel nanocatalyst for green synthesis of nitroso compounds

The aim of this study was to prepare a Fe3O4/tetra-n-butylammonium decatungstate (TBADT) catalyst (M-DT) for the selective oxidation of aromatic amine compounds in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The material M-DT, prepared from the interactions between TBADT and Fe3O4, was fully characterized by Fourier infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The electron transfer between H2O2 and TBADT or Fe3O4 or M-DT was studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) using carbon-modified electrodes. The optimized M-DT/H2O2 catalytic system can effectively oxidize sulfapyridine (SPD) to nitroso-sulfapyridine (N-SPD) in the pH range of 2.5 to 4.6 with an efficient (93%) and selective conversion (86%). The oxidation rate constant (1.20 x 10(-2) min(-1)) is much higher with M-DT than with TBADT (2.09 x 10(-4) min(-1)) or Fe3O4 (4.81 x 10(-4) min(-1)) alone using 5 mM H2O2 as a co-catalyst. This M-DT catalyst can be reused 6 times with high efficiency and selectivity.

Automated summary

The aim of this study was to prepare an Fe3O4/Tetra-n-butylammonium decatungstate (TBADT) catalyst for the selective oxidation of aromatic amine compounds using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The material M-DT, made from the interaction between TBADT and Fe3O4, was fully characterized. The M-DT catalyst showed efficient and selective conversion of sulfapyridine to nitroso-sulfapyridine in the presence of H2O2.