Synthesis and characterization of a bifunctional nanomagnetic solid acid catalyst (Fe3O4@CeO2/SO42-) and investigation of its efficiency in the protection process of alcohols and phenols via hexamethyldisilazane under solvent-free conditions

In this research, Fe3O4@CeO2 (FC) was synthesized using the coprecipitation method and functionalized by an ammonium sulfate solution to achieve a heterogeneous solid acid Fe3O4@CeO2/SO42- (FCA) catalyst. The synthesized bifunctional catalyst was used in the protection process of alcohols and phenols using hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) at ambient temperature under solvent-free conditions. Due to its excellent magnetic properties, FCA can easily be separated from the reaction mixture and reused several times without significant loss in its catalytic activity. Excellent yield and selectivity, simple separation, low cost, and high recyclability of the nanocatalyst are outstanding advantages of this procedure. The characterization was carried out using different techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM).