Magnetic silica beads functionalized with cobalt phthalocyanine for the oxidation of mercaptans in an alkali free aqueous medium

Novel magnetic silica beads functionalized cobalt phthalocyanine catalyst was prepared by immobilization of the sulfonated Co(II) phthalocyanine (CoPcS) on the amino functionalized silica coated magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4@SiO2, SMNP) via a sulfonamide linkage. The developed catalyst was characterized by various techniques such as XRD, N-2 adsorption-desorption, UV-Vis, FTIR, SEM and TGA analyses. The synthesized catalyst was found to be effective in oxidation of mercaptans in an aqueous medium by using molecular oxygen as oxidant under alkali free conditions. The efficient recovery by using an external magnet along with reusability of the catalyst in an alkali free reaction condition makes this methodology a facile, clean, effective and economically feasible approach for the oxidation of mercaptans to disulfides.