Caesium carbonate functionalized magnetic nanoparticles: An efficient heterogeneous and reusable inorganic catalyst for aldol reaction in water

The caesium carbonate (Cs2CO3) functionalized Fe3O4@SiO2 magnetic nanoparticle was found to be a highly efficient, magnetically separable, recyclable, and green heterogeneous catalyst. The X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) analyses were used for characterization of the nanocatalyst. The efficiency of catalyst was investigated in the aldol reaction of acetone with various aldehydes in water. Utilization of simple and mild reaction conditions, short reaction time, green and safe solvent, catalyst with high catalytic performance and good recyclability, easy purification of the products and simple magnetically work-up, makes this approach as an interesting and effective option in the aldol reaction.