La(OH) nanoparticles immobilized on FeO@chitosan composites as novel magnetic nanocatalysts for sonochemical oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde.

This work introduces an eco-friendly method for immobilization of La(OH) nanoparticles on modified FeO nanoparticles. The structural and morphological characteristics of the nanocatalyst were determined by various analytical techniques including, FT-IR, EDS, FESEM, VSM and XRD. The catalytic efficiency of the FeO@Cs/La(OH) composite as a heterogeneous nanocatalyst was evaluated by selective oxidation of benzylic alcohols to aldehydes. The optimum reaction conditions including time, temperature, nanocatalyst dosage, and solvent were investigated for ultrasound-assisted oxidation processes. Furthermore, the magnetic nanocatalyst was recovered up to seven times without considerable activity loss. Furthermore, the proposed nanocomposite had a remarkable effect on reducing the reaction time and enhancing the yield.