Use of Some Metal Ferrites as Catalyst in Aldol Condensation Reaction

Two moles of benzaldehyde and one mole of acetone were condensed to afford dibenzalacetone in presence of sodium hydroxide. This aldol condensation was carried out in presence of magnetic copper ferrite, CuFe2O4, which was synthesized by hydrothermal method. Other magnetic ferrites (where M = Ni, Co, Zn and Mg) were also prepared. As-prepared metal ferrites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The copper ferrite was observed to be square shaped and particle size was 29.71 nm. The yield of product (dibenzalacetone) in presence of copper ferrite was found to be highest (90.6%). A comparative study was made with different metal ferrites as catalyst and found that the activity of metal ferrites followed the order: CuFe2O4 > ZnFe2O4 > NiFe2O4 > CoFe2O4 > MgFe2O4