Transfer hydrogenation and hydration of aromatic aldehydes and nitriles using heterogeneous NiO nanofibers as a catalyst

Abstract

A simple and efficient hydrogen transfer reaction of aldehydes and hydration of nitriles using nickel oxide nanofibers (NiO NFs) as a heterogeneous catalyst is reported. NiO NFs prepared by electrospinning technique was cubic (confirmed by XRD) with an average diameter of 80 nm (obtained from HR-TEM) and utilized as a nanocatalyst for heterogeneous transfer hydrogenation of aromatic aldehydes and hydration of aromatic nitriles. All the reaction products produced with minimum reaction time and maximum yield were confirmed using GC-MS with NIST library. Furthermore, heterogeneity of the catalyst was confirmed with ICP-MS analysis. The as-prepared catalyst was reused for six cycles and was found to be efficient. Hence, the present catalytic synthesis of alcohols and amides may be an economically viable process.