In this study, a high catalytic activity of palladium nanoparticles immobilized on alumina (Al 2 O 3 ) is reported for the industrially important reduction of aromatic nitro compounds to amino compounds. The palladium nanoparticles were immobilized on alumina by a simple physical precipitation method. The synthesis of palladium nanoparticles was done in ethylene glycol without using any external stabilizing agent. The composite particles exhibited good colloidal stability. The catalytic activity is investigated qualitatively by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and quantitatively by photometrically monitoring the reduction of p-nitrophenol by an excess of sodium borohydride (NaBH 4 ) in the presence of nanocomposites. The kinetic data could be explained by the assumption of pseudo first-order reaction with respect to p-nitrophenol.
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