Practical and scalable hydrogenation of nitro compounds using palladium-based nanocatalyst under ambient conditions

Abstract

Catalytic hydrogenation at ambient conditions represents an essential and practical methodology, which allows for the more convenient access of fine and bulk chemicals. Here, we report Pd-based nanoparticles (PdNPs@SiO2) as an efficient catalyst for the hydrogenation of nitroarenes to anilines at atmospheric pressure of hydrogen and at room temperature. This specific Pd-catalyst allows for the hydrogenation of various functionalized and structurally challenging nitroarenes to valuable anilines, which serve as key building blocks and versatile intermediates in chemical, pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries as well as material technologies. These Pd-nanoparticles exhibited excellent stability and can be recycled and reused at least 6 times without any significant drop in the activity. Notably, this ambient hydrogenation process can be scaled up to several grams.