The zinc chromium ferrite magnetic nanoparticles ZnCrFeO4: An efficient catalyst for acetylation of alcohols, phenols and amines under solvent-free conditions

In this study, the zinc chromium ferrite magnetic nanoparticles ZnCrFeO4 are synthesized via sol-gel method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The XRD analysis showed that ZnCrFeO4 has single-phase cubic structure. The synthesized ZnCrFeO4 has been used as an efficient catalyst for acetylation of alcohols, phenols and amines with acetic anhydride under mild and solvent free conditions. The ZnCrFeO4 catalyst can be readily removed using an external magnet and no obvious loss of activity was observed after three consecutive runs. Also, the effect of time, amount and type of catalyst were investigated.