Concise Review on the Applications of Magnetically Separable Brønsted Acidic Catalysts

Magnetically separable Brønsted acidic catalysts combine the advantages of high efficiency of homogeneous Brønsted acidic catalyst with the ease of magnetic separation from the reaction medium. In addition to their ease of separation, the magnetically separable Brønsted acidic catalysts also possess high stability towards air and moisture, facile functionalization and tunable hydrophobic properties. This review portrays the applications of sulfonic acid anchored γ -Fe2O3 or Fe3O4 nanoparticles, magnetic core encapsulated acid functionalized silica or mesoporous nanoparticles, functionalized ionic liquid coated acidic magnetically separable nanoparticles and miscellaneous magnetically separable Brønsted acidic nanoparticles in diverse organic transformations. In addition, the merits of magnetically separable Brønsted acid nanocatalyst are also summarized and compared with the traditional homogeneous/heterogeneous Brønsted acidic catalysts.