ZnBr2 supported on silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles of Fe3O4 for conversion of CO2 to diphenyl carbonate

A magnetic Fe3O4@SiO2–ZnBr2 catalyst was prepared by supporting ZnBr2 on silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles of Fe3O4 and used as a recoverable catalyst for the direct synthesis of diphenyl carbonate (DPC) from CO2 and phenol in the presence of carbon tetrachloride. The as-prepared catalyst was characterized by infrared spectroscopy (IR), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), a X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS) and BET. Zn loading in the supported catalyst and leaching during the reaction process were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). It was found that Fe3O4@SiO2–ZnBr2 showed higher catalytic activity than homogenous ZnCl2 and ZnI2 as well as homogenous ZnBr2. With this new catalyst under optimized conditions, a yield of DPC at 28.1% was obtained. The heterogeneous catalyst Fe3O4@SiO2–ZnBr2 can also be recovered by a permanent magnet after the reaction and reused up to 4 times without noticeable deactivation.