A series of catalysts of magnetic iron oxide containing Ni with different nickel content were prepared with co-precipitation method and tested in the syntheses of N-substituted carbamates from various amines and alkyl carbamates. Under the optimized reaction conditions, various N-substituted carbamates were successfully synthesized with 90-98% isolated yield. The catalyst could be recovered based on the magnetic property of the catalyst and reused for five runs without deactivation. The catalysts were characterized with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, temperature-programmed reduction, temperature-programmed desorption, and Mossbauer spectroscopy analyses. The results showed that the catalytic activity may be derived from the delicate synergy between Ni and Fe species resulted in specific basic sites. Quasi in situ FT-IR and isotopic tracer revealed that the formation of substituted urea was the key step and the N-substituted carbamate was formed via further alcoholysis of the substituted urea. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.