Preparation and characterization of Fe3O4@SiO2/APTPOSS core-shell composite nanomagnetics as a novel family of reusable catalysts and their application in the one-pot synthesis of 1,3-thiazolidin-4-one derivatives

Octakis[3‐(3‐aminopropyltriethoxysilane)propyl]octasilsesquioxane (APTPOSS) as a polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane derivative was prepared and used as a pioneer reagent to obtain a novel core–shell composite using magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles as the core and the inorganic–organic hybrid polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane as the shell. Fe3O4@SiO2/APTPOSS were confirmed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, thermogravimetric analysis, X‐ray diffraction and vibrating sample magnetometry. The inorganic–organic hybrid polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane magnetic nanoparticles were used as an efficient new heterogeneous catalyst for the one‐pot three‐component synthesis of 1,3‐thiazolidin‐4‐ones under solvent‐free conditions. Moreover, these nanoparticles could be easily separated using an external magnet and then reused several times without significant loss of catalytic activity. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Octakis[3‐(3‐aminopropyltriethoxysilane)propyl]octasilsesquioxane (APTPOSS) and SiO2 have been successfully anchored on the surface of Fe3O4 nanoparticles and characterized using XRD, SEM, VSM, DLS, EDS, TGA and FT‐IR. These nanoparticles were used as an efficient new heterogeneous catalyst for the one‐pot three‐component synthesis of 1,3‐thiazolidin‐4‐ones under solvent‐free conditions.