Copper ferrite nanoparticle modified starch as a highly recoverable catalyst for room temperature click chemistry: multicomponent synthesis of 1,2,3-triazoles in water

A new magnetic catalyst comprising starch-supported CuFe2O4 NPs as a highly water dispersible material is prepared and characterized by different techniques such as TEM, SEM, VSM, EDX-mapping, XPS, and TG analyses. The obtained CuFe2O4@Starch is applied as a heterogeneous catalyst in click chemistry for the three-component synthesis of 1,2,3-triazoles in water at room temperature with low copper loading (0.1 mol%). Using this catalyst, benzylic halides, alkyl bromides and arylboronic acids reacted with sodium azide and terminal alkynes giving 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles in high yields. The catalyst can be easily separated from the reaction mixture using an external magnet and reused for at least 11 consecutive runs with a slight drop in its catalytic activity. The reused catalyst was characterized by TEM, VSM and XPS analysis showing similar structure to the fresh catalyst with a slight decrease of the magnetization value and small aggregations of nanoparticles.