Attractive Tandem Hydrogenation of Nitroaromatics Using AB as a Hydrogen Source over Pomelo Peel-Templated Bimetallic CuO–NiO/PP Nanocomposites

Abstract

The hydrogenation of aromatic nitro compounds to aromatic amines is an important chemical reaction. Currently, it is attractive that transfer hydrogenation of nitroaromatics occurs in the presence of hydrogen-rich compounds. Herein, Shatian pomelo peel (PP)-templated bimetallic CuO−NiO/PP nanocomposites were prepared by a simple coprecipitation method. The catalytic performance of CuO−NiO/PP was screened for the tandem hydrogenation of mchloronitrobenzene in the presence of ammonia borane. The experimental result shows that CuO−NiO/PP nanocomposites exhibit excellent activity and high selectivity, achieving a 100% yield of mchloroaniline within 10 min at room temperature. Especially, CuO− NiO/PP displayed good ability for inhibiting the hydrogenated dehalogenation in the hydrogenation of iodo-or bromo-substituted nitroaromatics and obtained an excess 80% yield of iodo-or bromo-substituted anilines. Meantime, CuO−NiO/PP nanocomposites have high selectivity for 16 nitroaromatics containing additional functional groups. In contrast to the non-templated sample, the CuO−NiO/PP did not display significant deactivation in the recycling test, suggesting its relatively better recyclability. Moreover, CuO−NiO/PP possesses better reactivity against the other two peel (green PP and grapefruit peel)-templated controls.