It has

been used as a catalyst and catalyst support for various organic reactions [1, 2], as an adsorbent for removing dyes and heavy metals from wastewater [3, 4], as an antimicrobial material [5], as an electrochemical biosensor [6] and many other applications. Conventionally, MgO is obtained via thermal decomposition of various magnesium salts [7–9]. The drawback with this method of obtaining MgO is the large crystallite size with low surface area-to-volume ratio that limits its applications for nanotechnology. Some Selleck Etomoxir MMP inhibitor properties of MgO, such as catalytic behaviour, can be further improved if it is used as nanosized particles compared to micron-sized particles. Therefore, the formation of MgO nanostructures with a small crystallite size of less than 100 nm EPZ015666 manufacturer and homogeneous morphology has attracted much attention due to their

unique physicochemical properties including high surface area-to-volume ratio. It is widely accepted that the properties of MgO nanostructures depend strongly on the synthesis methods and the processing conditions. Much effort has been devoted to synthesize MgO nanostructures using various methods such as precipitation [10], solvothermal [11], chemical vapour deposition [12], electrochemical [13], sonochemical [14], microwave [15], electron spinning [16], combustion [17], template [18] and carbothermic reduction [19]. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. An important issue regarding synthesis and preparation of nanostructured MgO is controlling the parameters in order to obtain a more uniform size as well as morphology of the nanoparticles. Over the past decades, various starting materials were used in the synthesis methods producing nanosized MgO that may give multiple morphologies. Precursors that may be obtained from the

synthesis methods may take many forms such Carnitine palmitoyltransferase II as magnesium hydroxide [10, 15], magnesium carbonate [20, 21] and basic magnesium carbonate [22, 23]. Each precursor is annealed at a different temperature to produce highly crystalline and pure MgO. Another precursor, magnesium oxalate dihydrate (MgC2O4 · 2H2O), has also received considerable interest among researchers [24, 25]. A sol-gel method is a promising technique for the formation of magnesium oxalate dihydrate followed by annealing at a suitable temperature to form MgO. The advantages are its simplicity, cost-effectiveness, low reaction temperature, high surface area-to-volume ratio, narrow particle size distribution and high purity of the final product. Early attempts to prepare magnesium oxalate dihydrate were by using either magnesium methoxide or magnesium ethoxide that was reacted with oxalic acid in ethanol to form a precursor based on the sol-gel reaction [26–28]. Later on, inorganic salts like magnesium nitrate hexahydrate [29–31], magnesium chloride hexahydrate [32] and magnesium acetate tetrahydrate [33] are preferred.