synthesis and characterization of molybdenum complex supported on magnetic and non-magnetic supports: comparing their catalytic activity, selectivity, and reusability

A molybdenum complex was immobilized on schiff-base-modified magnetic and non-magnetic particles by covalent linkage. the characterizations of the obtained materials were carried out by means of tg–dtg, sem, tem, vsm, xps, ir, and raman microprobe techniques. all of them exhibited efficient activities in the oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides by urea hydrogen peroxide oxidant. the advantages and disadvantages of these catalysts are discussed in detail. molybdenum complex immobilized on silica bead can be recycled and recovered by simple filtration, but it demonstrated low activity in catalytic oxidation reaction. immobilization on nano-sio2 leads to the formation of nanocatalyst having high catalytic activity but inefficient reusability. the best results were obtained with nano-fe3o4 magnetic support. the immobilized molybdenum complex on silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles can easily be recovered from the reaction system using an external magnet and reused several times with high yields.