Highly stable,active and recyclable solid acid catalyst based on polymer-coated magnetic composite particles

A facile approach has been adopted for coating cross-linked polystyrene(PS) shells on the surface of Fe304 magnetic clusters using reflux-precipitation polymerization(RPP).Treating the PS shell with chlorosulfonic acid yields magnetic composite particles with acid functionality.By adjusting the amount and proportion of monomers(styrene and divinylbenzene),the obtained magnetic composite particle solid acid(MPM-5 S) exhibits a saturation magnetization value of 18 emu/g,a specific surface area of 243 m~2/g and an acid density of 2.113 mmol/g.The MPM-5 S magnetic solid acid catalyst was evaluated for esterification of oleic acid with methanol to prepare biodiesel.Under mild conditions,the conversion of oleic acid reached 91%,which was much higher than the catalytic activity of Amberlyst-15 and close to the catalytic activity of concentrated H_2 SO_4.The solid acid catalyst can be recovered by magnetic separation and reused three times maintaining over 95% of its initial catalytic activity.Additionally,the solid acid can be used to catalyze the dehydration of fructose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural.