Magnetic Mesoporous Silica Nanocomposite Supported Ionic Liquid/Cu as a Powerful and Highly Stable Catalyst for Chan-Lam Coupling Reaction

Herein, a novel magnetic mesoporous silica nanocomposite with a core–shell structure modified with IL/Cu complex (MMS@IL/Cu) is prepared through the template-directed hydrolysis of tetramethyl orthosilicate (TMOS) over Fe₃O₄@RF composite followed by grafting of propyl-imidazolium chloride/copper complex. The MMS@IL/Cu nanocomposite was characterized by PXRD, FT-IR, TGA, VSM, EDX, SEM and TEM techniques. The MMS@IL/Cu was employed as a robust nanocatalyst to successfully promote the Chan-Lam coupling reaction in EtOH at 50 °C. High yields of the desired products were obtained within a relatively short time. The designed magnetic catalyst could retain its high efficiency for at least eight runs under applied conditions.