Synthesis, Material Properties, and Organocatalytic Performance of Hypervalent Iodine(III)-Oxidants in Core-Shell-Structured Magnetic Nanoparticles

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) based on magnetite (Fe3O4) are attractive catalyst supports due to their high surface area, easy preparation, and facile separation, but they lack stability in acidic reaction media. The search for MNPs stable in oxidative acidic reaction media is a necessity if one wants to combine the advantages of MNPs as catalyst supports with those of iodine(III) reagents being environmentally benign oxidizers. In this work, immobilized iodophenyl organocatalysts on magnetite support (IMNPs) were obtained by crossed-linking polymerization of 4-iodostyrene with 1,4-divinylbenzene in the presence of MNPs. The obtained IMNPs were characterized by TGA, IR, SEM, STEM, and HAADF to gain information on catalyst morphology, average particle size (80-100 nm), and their core-shell structure. IMNP-catalysts tested in (i) the alpha-tosyloxylation of propiophenone 1 with meta-chloroperbenzoic acid (m-CPBA) and (ii) in the oxidation of 9,10-dimethoxyanthracene 3 with Oxone (R) as the side-oxidant showed a similar performance as reactions using stoichiometric amounts of iodophenyl. The developed IMNPs withstand strong acidic conditions and serve as reusable organocatalysts. They are recyclable up to four times for repeated organocatalytic oxidations with rates of recovery of 80-92%. This is the first example of a-(4-iodophenyl)polystyrene shell-magnetite core-structured organocatalyst withstanding strong acidic reaction conditions.