A new magnetic nanoparticle-supported Schiff base complex of manganese was prepared via the copper-catalyzed 'click' reaction of an aminosalicylidene manganese complex bearing terminal alkynyl with azide-functionalized shell-core magnetic nanoparticles. The as-prepared catalyst was applied in the oxidation of alcohols to corresponding aldehydes or ketones with high yield and selectivity when the reaction was carried out in dimethylsulfoxide at 110°C for 4 h using tert-butyl hydroperoxide as oxidant. Moreover, the catalyst can be easily separated from the reaction mixture using an external magnet and reused five times with no significant loss of catalytic activity.

A new base-metal bifunctional catalyst NH-Pd(0)@MNP was prepared via a facile procedure and fully characterized. The as-prepared catalyst was used as an efficient relay catalyst for the one-pot oxidant-free dehydrogenation-Knoevenagel condensation tandem reaction from benzyl alcohol in H 2 O under mild conditions and generated benzalmalononitriles with yield up to 96%. Meanwhile, the catalyst could be easily recovered from the reaction system by an external magnetic field, and is reusable with little loss of activity up to 6 runs (<5%).

A novel magnetic nanoparticle‐supported bifunctional catalyst NH−Pd(0)@MNP was prepared and its activity was evaluated in one‐pot Suzuki coupling‐Knoevenagel condensation tandem reaction. A series of biaryl derivatives were synthesized via sequential Suzuki coupling‐Knoevenagel condensation in ethanol/water medium under phosphine‐free conditions. Meanwhile, the catalyst could be easily separated by an external magnetic field, and could be reused several times without remarkable loss of catalytic activity.

Although the 2-position-selective decarboxylative coupling or addition of arylpropiolic acids with cyclic ethers has been intensively investigated, selective functionalization of arylpropiolic acids at the 3-position is still a big challenge.

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