Copper Ferrite Superparamagnetic Nanoparticle-Catalyzed Cross-coupling Reaction to Form Diindolylmethane (DIM): Effect of Experimental Parameters

Oanh T.K. Nguyen (Department of Chemical Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), 268 Ly Thuong Kiet Street, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City 700000 Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Linh Trung Ward, Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City 7)
Ha Trong Pha (Department of Chemical Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), 268 Ly Thuong Kiet Street, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City 700000 Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Linh Trung Ward, Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City 7)
Huynh Dang Khoa (Department of Chemical Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), 268 Ly Thuong Kiet Street, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City 700000 Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Linh Trung Ward, Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City 7)
Duy Chinh Nguyen (NTT Hi-Tech Institute, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Ho Chi Minh City 700000 Center of Excellence for Green Energy and Environmental Nanomaterials (CE@GrEEN), Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Ho Chi Minh City 700000)
Nguyen Thi Hong Tam (NTT Hi-Tech Institute, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Ho Chi Minh City 700000 Center of Excellence for Green Energy and Environmental Nanomaterials (CE@GrEEN), Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Ho Chi Minh City 700000)

Bulletin of Chemical Reaction Engineering & Catalysis
2020: BCREC Volume 15 Issue 3 Year 2020 (December 2020)

Superparamagnetic copper ferrite (CuFe2O4) nanoparticles were utilized as a heterogenous catalyst for the cross-coupling reaction of indole to form 3,3’-diindolylmethane (DIM) as the desirable product. High reaction yield, at around 82%, was achieved under optimal conditions. The CuFe2O4 material could be easily separated from the reaction mixture by an external magnetic field and could be reutilized several times without a significant decrease in catalytic activity. We also showed that no sites of catalyst material leached into reaction solution was detected. To our best knowledge, the above cross-coupling reaction was not previously conducted under catalysis of superparamagnetic nanoparticles. Copyright © 2021 by Authors, Published by BCREC Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).