Silver and palladium nanoparticles anchored to the core-shell Fe3O4@SiO2@Al2O3 for catalytic aerobic oxidation of alcohols and apoptotic induction on MCF-7 cells

• Fe 3 O 4 @SiO 2 @Al 2 O 3 /Pd,Ag nanocomposites were easily synthesised based on MIL(Al)96 MOF. • The nanocomposites were used as green catalysts for selective aerobic oxidation of alcohols. • Even aliphatic alcohols were oxidized at room temperature to carbonyl compounds. • The nanocomposites showed potential cytotoxic effect towards MCF-7 cells and could induce apoptosis in cancer cell line. Silver and palladium nanoparticles anchored to the core–shell Fe 3 O 4 @SiO 2 @Al 2 O 3 were successfully synthesized based on MIL(Al)96 MOF. The nanocomposites, 15–20 nm in size, exhibited high catalytic activity for selective aerobic oxidation of alcohols (even aliphatic alcohols) to the corresponding carbonyl compounds at room temperature without addition of any other additives. In this regard, the Fe 3 O 4 @SiO 2 @Al 2 O 3 /Pd,Ag exhibited more catalytic activity than the others. The cytotoxic effect of nanocomposites was tested in-vitro against MCF-7 human breast cancer cells by MTT assay. The results showed that all synthesized nanocomposites will be promising and potential as anticancer agents, with sample Fe 3 O 4 @SiO 2 @Al 2 O 3 being the most cytotoxic after 24 and 48 h. Also, the obtained nanocomposites could induce apoptosis in breast cancer cell line ( MCF-7) and the ability of induce apoptosis was in the following order: Fe 3 O 4 @SiO 2 @Al 2 O 3 @Ag > Fe 3 O 4 @SiO 2 @Al 2 O 3 > Fe 3 O 4 @SiO 2 @Al 2 O 3 @Pd,Ag > Fe 3 O 4 @SiO 2 @Al 2 O 3 @Pd.