Magnetically recoverable copper nanorods and their catalytic activity in Ullmann cross-coupling reaction

A novel polydentate ligand supported on Fe3O4@SiO2 was designed and demonstrated for the synthesis of Cu nanorods. The Fe3O4@SiO2/EP.EN.EG@Cu was characterized using X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometry. The Fe3O4@SiO2/EP.EN.EG@Cu showed excellent catalytic efficiency for the cross-coupling reaction of nitrogen-containing heterocycles with aryl halides. The catalyst could be effectively separated from the reaction mixture by simply applying an external magnetic field and reused at least five times without loss of activity.