A new magnetically separable catalyst consisting of phosphotungstic acid supported on imidazole functionalized silica coated cobalt ferrite nanoparticles was prepared. The synthesized catalyst was characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). This immobilized phosphotungstic acid was shown to be an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the epoxidation of various alkenes using tert-butylhydroperoxide (t-BuOOH) as oxidant. The catalyst is readily recovered by simple magnetic decantation and can be recycled several times with no significant loss of catalytic activity. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.