Synthesis and characterization of Ni-SMTU@boehmite and its catalytic application in the oxidation of sulfides and oxidative coupling of thiols

Nanoparticles due to their high surface area and facile recovery, have recently emerged as catalyst supports. One of the novel nanomaterial supports is boehmite. Boehmite has important applications in the preparation of catalysts in petrochemical. Boehmite is structure consists of double sheets of octahedral with aluminum ions at their centers and the sheets themselves are composed of octahedral chains and has a cubic orthorhombic structure [1]. Boehmite is also used as adsorbent, catalyst, cosmetic products and coatings, due to its unique properties such as good thermal stability, high specific surface area and mesoporous properties. A major advantage of boehmite nanoparticles is availability on a large industrial scale [2]. Therefore, several methods have been described for preparation of boehmite nanoparticles. But, most of them have focused on the morphologies, chemical and physical properties of the prepared particles; meanwhile, there is little literatures on the modification of nanoboehmite surface as heterogeneous support [3]. Hence, an attempt has been made to modify of boehmite nanoparticles in this work. In order to regard of this issue, nickel Smethylisothiourea complex has been immobilized on boehmite nanoparticles and further applied as an excellent nano organometal catalyst for the selective oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides and oxidative coupling of thiols to corresponding disulfides. Because oxidation of sulfides and oxidative coupling of thiols are useful in the synthesis of new molecules, as well as for various medical, chemical, biological, materials, and nanotechnological applications [3, 4].