Synthesis and heterogeneous catalytic activity of covalently immobilized hexamine cation as a magnetically-recoverable nanocatalyst

Functionalized magnetic core-shell nanoparticles Fe3O4-SiO2-HMTA are prepared by co-precipitation method and characterized by SEM, TEM, FT-IR, XRD, and VSM. The particles are spherical with an average size of approximately 48 nm. The catalytic activity of these nanoparticles was tested in solvent-free synthesis of coumarin derivatives. The catalyst was readily recycled by the use of an external magnetic field and can be reused four times without significant loss of activity or mass.