In this study, zinc ferrocyanide nano-composite materials were synthesized and developed by reaction of aqueous K4Fe(CN)(6)center dot 3H(2)O and ZnCl2 in the presence of tri-block copolymer and tert-butanol. The synthesized catalysts were characterized by CO2- and NH3-temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), N-2-sorption, SEM, TEM, XRD and used for transesterification reactions. The zinc ferrocyanide catalyst showed a sharp cube shaped structure with a high amount of basic sites. The zinc ferrocyanide catalyst showed type IV isotherm with H-3 hysteresis loop. BET surface area and pore volume were found to be 125 m(2)/g and 0.1395 cm(3)/g, respectively. The transesterification of jatropha oil using Fe-Zn-1 showed the maximum 94.5% jatropha oil conversion. The prepared catalyst can be easily recovered and successfully reused after five times. The slight loss of activity of Fe-Zn-1 catalyst can be attributed to the deposition of the reaction products on the active sites and the blockage of the pores. Overall, the zinc ferrocyanide catalyst activity was found to be directly dependent upon both the textural and surface basic/acidic properties. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.