Magnetic Nanoparticles Functionalized with Dendritic Polymer as a Host for Immobilization of MoO2(acac)2 and Investigation of its Catalytic Activity in the Epoxidation of Alkenes

The new heterogeneous catalyst based on MoO2(acac)2 immobilized on superparamagnetic nanoparticle functionalized with dendrimer was synthesized. The dendrimer with amine and sulfur functional groups offer proper positions for a strong connection between MoO2(acac)2 and support. The synthesized catalyst was characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, ICP, TGA, SEM, TEM, and XRD. This catalyst showed high activity in the epoxidation of alkene with tert-BuOOH. These reactions displayed the best performance in the present of 1,2-dichloroethan as a solvent and 0.0108 mmol of the catalyst. The use of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) as support facilitates the separation of the catalyst from the reaction media by simple magnetic decantation. Eventually, the catalyst can be recovered and reused without a decrease in its catalytic activity and significant Mo leaching for five times.