Cu@Fe3O4-TiO2-L-dopa: A novel and magnetic catalyst for the Chan-Lam cross-coupling reaction in ligand free conditions

A novel and magnetic Cu(0) catalyst (Cu@Fe3O4-TiO2-L-dopa) has been prepared and characterized with different techniques, such as SEM, HR-TEM, ICP-AES, XRD, FTIR, EDX, CHN analysis, VSM and TGA studies. TiO2 nanoparticles were proved to be efficient in stabilizing magnetite nanoparticles, thus preventing their agglomeration. It has been also observed that grafting of Fe3O4-TiO2 with L-dopa reduces the leaching of Cu(0) nanoparticles. The synthesized catalyst showed excellent catalytic activity for the Chan-Lam cross-coupling reaction of phenyl boronic acid with different substituted anilines in ligand-free conditions, and was found to be recyclable up to 6 runs without loss of significant activity.