Polyethyleneimine-modified super paramagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles: An efficient, reusable and water tolerance nanocatalyst

A novel magnetically immobilized polyethyleneimine (PEI) fabricated by covalently anchoring on silica coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles (PEI@Si-MNPs) was prepared. The synthesized catalyst was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). The immobilized PEI was shown to be an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the synthesis of spiro-oxindole, benzopyranes and chromene derivatives via multi-component reaction (MCR), in water as a green solvent. The catalyst is readily recovered by simple magnetic decantation and can be recycled several times with no significant loss of catalytic activity.