Copper immobilized onto polymer-coated magnetic nanoparticles as recoverable catalyst for ‘click’ reaction

Copper supported on polymer-coated magnetic nanoparticles was designed and synthesized as a separable heterogeneous catalyst. The catalyst was fully characterized using several techniques such as Fourier transform infrared and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopies, scanning and transmission electron microscopies, X-ray diffraction, vibrating sample magnetometry, thermogravimetric analysis and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. All results showed that copper was successfully supported on the polymer-coated magnetic nanoparticles. Also, results showed that the synthesized material can be used as an efficient catalyst for the preparation of a series of 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles from corresponding halides, alkynes and sodium azide. The catalyst can be easily isolated from the reaction solution by applying an external magnet and reused for nine runs without any significant loss of catalytic activity.