β-Cyclodextrin-Functionalized Fe3O4-Supported Pd-Nanocatalyst for the Reduction of Nitroarenes in Water at Mild Conditions

In this study, a novel heterogeneous catalyst (Fe3O4@& beta;-CD@Pd) has been developed by the depositionof palladium nanoparticles on the & beta;-cyclodextrin-functionalizedsurface of magnetic Fe3O4. The catalyst wasprepared by a simple chemical co-precipitation method and characterizedextensively by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy,thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emissionscanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy(EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectronspectroscopy (XPS), and inductively coupled plasma-optical emissionspectrometry (ICP-OES) analyses. Herein, the applicability of theprepared material was evaluated for the catalytic reduction of environmentallytoxic nitroarenes to the corresponding anilines. The catalyst Fe3O4@& beta;-CD@Pd showed excellent efficiency forthe reduction of nitroarenes in water under mild conditions. A lowcatalyst loading of 0.3 mol % Pd is found to be efficient for reducingnitroarenes in excellent to good (99-95%) yields along withhigh TON values (up to 330). Nevertheless, the catalyst was recycledand reused up to the 5th cycle of reduction of nitroarene withoutany loss of significant catalytic activity.

Automated summary

In this study, a novel heterogeneous catalyst (Fe3O4@& beta;-CD@Pd) was developed for the reduction of nitroarenes to anilines. The catalyst showed excellent efficiency with low Pd loading and high yields. It also exhibited significant catalytic activity and recyclability.