A new type of highly selective reduction catalyst for nitroaromatics

Amines, as common synthetic blocks, are widely used in fine chemical industry pharmaceutical chemistry and material science. So far, there are about 4 million tons of amines and their derivatives produced every year in the world. According to the statistics of J ó n njiarearson, a professor at the University of Arizona in the United States, "the top 200 drugs in global sales in 2015", about 170 drug molecules contain nitrogen-containing groups such as amino groups. Therefore, the selective reduction of nitroaromatics to produce aromatic amines has always been one of the research focuses of chemists. Noble metal catalysts (PD, Pt, etc.) show excellent catalytic performance, but for nitro compounds containing functional groups, especially the substituent groups which are easy to reduce, they often show very low selectivity to the target products. Recently, led by Yang Yong, researcher of Qingdao Institute of biological energy and process research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the research team of low carbon catalytic conversion developed a convenient, environmental friendly, low-cost and efficient FeS2 / NSC loaded single-phase PYRITE nanostructure catalyst (FeS2 / NSC) with abundant reserves, strong biocompatibility and environmental friendly iron salt and bamboo shoots as raw materials through sulfur atom doping strategy. The highly selective reduction of functional nitroaromatics was realized to produce anilines, which showed the highest catalytic activity based on the non noble metal heterogeneous catalyst reported in the literature, and the reaction conditions were mild and green (Water as solvent, 120oc, 2.0MPa H2). The results were published in chemsuschem, selected as VIP and journal cover, and invited as cover profile to report the research ideas and research team of the work. In the process of catalyst development, through a large number of control experiments and optimization of conditions, the single-phase and uniform size pyrite FeS2 nanoparticles with high dispersion loading on N, s-diatomic Co doped multi-stage porous carbon support were realized. At the same time, some drug molecules containing nitro groups can also be efficiently and selectively reduced. Finally, through controlling experiments, in-situ characterization and theoretical calculation, the interaction between N, s-diatomic Co doped carbon carrier and FeS2 nanoparticles, the large specific surface area and multi-stage pore structure of the carrier effectively promote the high activity and high selective reduction of nitro groups.