Reduction of toxic organic dyes in aqueous media using N-heterocyclic copper(II) complex immobilized on the beta-cyclodextrin-modified Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles as a magnetically recyclable catalyst

Abstract

Abstract Water supplies have been jeopardized owing to increased population and industrial activity. Azo dyes are regarded as hazardous substances, e.g. p-nitrophenol, causing cancer in animals as well as redox-related toxicity in diverse tissues. In this regard, adsorption process alone is not sufficient to treat wastewaters including extra types of pollution merely in a single step. With the purpose of declining azo-based contaminations in nontoxic species of wastewater, this paper proposed a novel functionalized iron oxide nanoadsorbent (Fe3O4@CM-β-CDP@Tet-Cu(II)) ,synthesized by combining the benefits of magnetic nanoparticles, carboxymethyl-β-cyclodextrin, and N-heterocyclic cupper complex. Different techniques were employed to distinguish catalyst morphology and structure. Moreover, at room temperature, with moderate and safe reducing agents (NaBH4), the nanocatalyst was exploited with the purpose of diminishing organic dyes such as p-nitrophenol, Eosin Y, Rhodamine B, Congo red, and Methyl orange. A simple and readily available method was employed to record such reduction: UV-vis spectroscopy. Results revealed considerable catalytic activity of Fe3O4@CM-β-CDP@Tet-Cu (II) besides remarkable reduction rate in the course of limited reaction time, in particular for Methyl orange dye. It is noteworthy that the catalytic activity of the nanocomposite did not suffer any notable losses despite being recovered and re-used five times. Through the use of an external magnet, such nanocomposites can be simply isolated from water environments and thereafter be exploited for organic catalytic reduction and wastewater treatment on a large scale.