The synthesis and characterization of MCM-41 magnetic mesoporous material, which has been modified with zirconium-thiouracil complex (M-MCM- 41@TU-ZrO), has been conducted and thoroughly analyzed using an array of techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), elemental mapping, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The catalytic performance of M-MCM-41@TU-ZrO was tested in the synthesis of phenyl aryl sulfides through a three-component coupling reaction of aryl halides/phenolic esters with phenylboronic acid and sulfur powder in the presence of a base in PEG200 at 80–90C. Also, the synthesis of symmetrical diaryl sulfides using aryl halides and sulfur powder and M-MCM-41@TU-ZrO as a nanocatalyst in dimethyl sulfoxide at 120C was investigated. A major novelty is that this is the first time that a highly efficient magnetically recyclable zirconium nanocatalyst is used for the synthesis of unsymmetrical diaryl sulfides in the presence of arylboronic acid/S8 system as thiolating agent and phenolic esters as cross-coupling partners. The other advantages of this method are as follows: (a) the structurally diverse phenyl aryl sulfides have been synthesized in good to high yields in PEG as a green solvent; (b) starting materials, sulfur source, and catalyst are commercially available, cheap, non-toxic, and chemically stable; and (c) M-MCM-41@TU-ZrO nanocatalyst was easily removed from the reaction mixture using an external magnet and reused numerous times without any significant change in activity.
