magnetically recyclable magnetite-nickel nanocatalyst for the reduction of nitroarenes

Structurally diverse anilines constitute major building blocks and key intermediates for the production of drugs, pharmaceuticals, pigments, dyes, and agrochemicals [1,2]. the typical route for their production is the selective reduction of the corresponding nitro-derivatives. catalytic reduction using heterogeneous metal catalysts is a well-established technique and often regarded as the method of choice for the reduction of nitroarenes to anilines [3]. herein, 1,2-diaminocyclohexane ni-complex supported on magnetic nanoparticles was synthesized and characterized by different methods such as scanning electron microscopy (sem), transmission electron microscopy (tem), vibrating sample magnetometry (vsm), and inductively couple plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (icp-aes). the prepared nanohybrid was used as a highly efficient and magnetically recyclable catalyst for the reduction of diverse functionalized nitro compounds to the corresponding anilines in ethanol at 50 °c. nabh4 served as the source of inexpensive hydride. furthermore, the synthesized catalyst was separated easily by using an external magnet and recycled up to four cycles without significant decrease in catalytic activity and selectivity.