Highly chemoselective reduction of nitroarenes over non-noble metal nickel-molybdenum oxide catalysts

Abstract

The chemoselective reduction of nitroarenes is an important transformation for the production of arylamines, which are the primary intermediates in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and dyes. Heterogeneous non-noble metal nickel-molybdenum oxide catalysts supported on ordered mesoporous silica SBA-15 (Ni-MoO₃/CN@SBA-15) were prepared for the first time by treating SBA-15-supported nickel-molybdenum oxide materials with 1,10-phenanthroline, and exhibited unprecedented catalytic activity and chemoselectivity for the reduction of various substituted nitroarenes to the corresponding aromatic amines in ethanol with hydrazine hydrate as a hydrogen donor under mild conditions owing to the synergistic effect of metal Ni and MoO₃ species, affording excellent yields of >99% within very short reaction periods (≤60 min). The Ni-MoO₃/CN@SBA-15 catalysts were highly stable and could easily be recovered by simple filtration or by an external magnetic field for at least ten recycling reactions without any observable loss of catalytic performance or leaching of metal components.