Magnetic Nanoparticles: Green
and Environment Friendly Catalyst
for Organic Transformations
Suman Swami and Rahul Shrivastava
Abstract Catalysis by nanoparticles seems an attractive and sustainable alternative of conventional catalyst systems in organic transformations because of their
small size and larger reactive surface to volume ratio with higher potential for
selectivity. Among the nanocatalysts, magnetic nanoparticles or magnetic core–
shell nanoparticles have gained a significant place due to their paramagnetic nature
facilitates the separation of catalyst through the use of an external magnet which
makes the recovery of the catalyst easier and prevents loss of catalyst associated
with conventional filtration or centrifugation methods. The possibility of reusability
and milder reaction conditions are additional advantages of nanoparticle catalyzed
organic transformations.
1 Introduction
Catalysis is an essential tool in modern science and technology as they meet the
demands of the development of eco-compatible and sustainable chemical processes
which minimize the energy requirements, use and generation of hazardous reagents
and solvents (Govan and Gun’ko 2014). An important demand for a suitable catalyst is their recovery and reusability at the industrial scale, homogenous catalysts
demonstrated their superiority in terms of activity and selectivity but majority of
industrial catalysts remain heterogeneous because of the simplicity of the latter in
tenure of recovery (Hudson 2014). However, in this context nanoparticles seems to
be an attractive and sustainable alternative option in term of high activity, selectivity,
and improved recyclability possibilities. Among nanoparticles magnetic nanoparticles or core–shell functionalized magnetic nanoparticles have received important
place since these MNPs displayed different applications in various domains such
as magnetic resonance imaging, data storage, drug delivery, biomedicine, and bioelectrochemical sensing (Mornet 2006; Hyeon 2003; Blanco-Canosa 2014; Delehanty et al. 2009). Besides these important applications, the paramagnetic nature of
magnetic nanoparticle simplifies the separation and recovery task and prevents loss of
S. Swami · R. Shrivastava (B)
Department of Chemistry, Manipal University Jaipur, Jaipur 303007, Rajasthan, India
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
L. Ledwani and J. S. Sangwai (eds.), Nanotechnology for Energy and Environmental
Engineering, Green Energy and Technology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33774-2_20
477
and Environment Friendly Catalyst
for Organic Transformations
Suman Swami and Rahul Shrivastava
Abstract Catalysis by nanoparticles seems an attractive and sustainable alternative of conventional catalyst systems in organic transformations because of their
small size and larger reactive surface to volume ratio with higher potential for
selectivity. Among the nanocatalysts, magnetic nanoparticles or magnetic core–
shell nanoparticles have gained a significant place due to their paramagnetic nature
facilitates the separation of catalyst through the use of an external magnet which
makes the recovery of the catalyst easier and prevents loss of catalyst associated
with conventional filtration or centrifugation methods. The possibility of reusability
and milder reaction conditions are additional advantages of nanoparticle catalyzed
organic transformations.
1 Introduction
Catalysis is an essential tool in modern science and technology as they meet the
demands of the development of eco-compatible and sustainable chemical processes
which minimize the energy requirements, use and generation of hazardous reagents
and solvents (Govan and Gun’ko 2014). An important demand for a suitable catalyst is their recovery and reusability at the industrial scale, homogenous catalysts
demonstrated their superiority in terms of activity and selectivity but majority of
industrial catalysts remain heterogeneous because of the simplicity of the latter in
tenure of recovery (Hudson 2014). However, in this context nanoparticles seems to
be an attractive and sustainable alternative option in term of high activity, selectivity,
and improved recyclability possibilities. Among nanoparticles magnetic nanoparticles or core–shell functionalized magnetic nanoparticles have received important
place since these MNPs displayed different applications in various domains such
as magnetic resonance imaging, data storage, drug delivery, biomedicine, and bioelectrochemical sensing (Mornet 2006; Hyeon 2003; Blanco-Canosa 2014; Delehanty et al. 2009). Besides these important applications, the paramagnetic nature of
magnetic nanoparticle simplifies the separation and recovery task and prevents loss of
S. Swami · R. Shrivastava (B)
Department of Chemistry, Manipal University Jaipur, Jaipur 303007, Rajasthan, India
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
L. Ledwani and J. S. Sangwai (eds.), Nanotechnology for Energy and Environmental
Engineering, Green Energy and Technology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33774-2_20
477