Nickel doped zinc nanoferrites as magnetically recoverable catalysts for friedel crafts benzylation

Different compositions of nickel doped zinc nanoferrite (NixZn1-xFe2O4, x – 0.0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0) spinels were prepared by sol-gel method and well characterized. The effect of dopant in the parent zinc ferrite was studied for the benzylation of benzene with benzyl chloride. The conversion of benzyl chloride and product selectivity increased considerably with increasing zinc content. Ni0.25Zn0.75Fe2O4 is found to be the highly active among the series showing complete conversion of benzyl chloride in 60 minutes at 383 K with 100% selectivity for diphenyl methane. The effect of reaction parameters were thoroughly studied along with a correlation analysis of surface acidity of the catalyst with its efficiency and selectivity towards the reaction.