Magnetization of graphene oxide nanosheets using nickel magnetic nanoparticles as a novel support for the fabrication of copper as a practical, selective, and reusable nanocatalyst in C-C and C-O coupling reactions.

Catalyst species are an important class of materials in chemistry, industry, medicine, and biotechnology. Moreover, waste recycling is an important process in green chemistry and is economically efficient. Herein, magnetic graphene oxide was synthesized using nickel magnetic nanoparticles and further applied as a novel support for the fabrication of a copper catalyst. The catalytic activity of supported copper on magnetic graphene oxide (Cu-ninhydrin@GO-Ni MNPs) was investigated as a selective, practical, and reusable nanocatalyst in the synthesis of diaryl ethers and biphenyls. Some of the obtained products were identified by NMR spectroscopy. This nanocatalyst has been characterized by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), wavelength dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (WDX), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) techniques. The results obtained from SEM shown that this catalyst has a nanosheet structure. Also, XRD and FT-IR analysis show that the structure of graphene oxide and nickel magnetic nanoparticles is stable during the modification of the nanoparticles and synthesis of the catalyst. The VSM curve of the catalyst shows that this catalyst can be recovered using an external magnet; therefore, it can be reused several times without a significant loss of its catalytic efficiency. The heterogeneity and stability of this nanocatalyst during organic reactions was confirmed by the hot filtration test and AAS technique.