Selective Nitrobenzene Hydrogenations

Selective catalytic hydrogenation of aromatic nitro compounds finds many applications in fine and specialty chemical industries (1). This class of hydrogenation reactions has been studied extensively using various solvents, catalysts and under various reaction conditions (1). The hydrogenation reaction has been found to follow mainly a mechanism that was delineated by Haber in 1898 from his study of electrochemical reduction of nitrobenzene (2). The mechanism, consisting of two types of reaction pathways, is schematically described in Fig. 1. The first pathway is a monomeric one that proceeds in three consecutive steps (a) hydrogenolysis of one of the N-O bonds in the nitro group to produce the nitroso intermediate ... 

Lyu JH, WangJG, Lu CS, et al. Size-dependent halogenated nitrobenzene hydrogenation selectivity of Pd nanoparticles, J Phys Chem C 118(5) 2594—2601, 2014. 

A single Au nanoparticle inside the pNIPAM shell catalytic system, a so-called hybrid yolk-shell nanostructure, was synthesised as shown in Fig. 13.9 (Wu et al, 2012). This system showed catalytic activity in the reduction of 4-nitrophenol and nitrobenzene with NaBH, in which the selectivity of hydrogenation depended on temperature. The reduction of 4-nitrophenol was much faster at lower temperature, whereas nitrobenzene reacted faster at higher temperature. Both compounds are of similar size thus the changes in pNIPAM core conformation from a swollen to a shrunken state could not affect the diffusion of the reactants through the pNIPAM core. However, 4-nitrophenol is more hydrophilic than nitrobenzene. The interaction of the reactants with pNIPAM in its hydrophilic and hydrophobic state could be a reason for the temperature dependence of the selectivity of catalysis. 

The chemical production of aminophenols via the reduction of nitrobenzene occurs in two stages. Nitrobenzene [98-95-3] is first selectively reduced with hydrogen in the presence of Raney copper to phenylhydroxylamine in an organic solvent such as 2-propanol (37). With the addition of dilute sulfuric acid, nucleophilic attack by water on the aromatic ring of /V-phenylhydroxylamine [100-65-2] takes place to form 2- and 4-aminophenol. The by-product, 4,4 -diaminodiphenyl ether [13174-32-8] presumably arises in a similar manner from attack on the ring by a molecule of 4-aminophenol (38,39). Aniline [62-53-3] is produced via further reduction (40,41). 

The intercalated catalysts can often be regarded as biomimetic oxidation catalysts. The intercalation of cationic metal complexes in the interlamellar space of clays often leads to increased catalytic activity and selectivity, due to the limited orientations by which the molecules are forced to accommodate themselves between sheets. The clays have electrostatic fields in their interlayer therefore, the intercalated metal complexes are more positively charged. Such complexes may show different behavior. For example, cationic Rh complexes catalyze the regioselective hydrogenation of carbonyl groups, whereas neutral complexes are not active.149 Cis-Alkenes are hydrogenated preferentially on bipyridyl-Pd(II) acetate intercalated in montmorillonite.150 The same catalyst was also used for the reduction of nitrobenzene.151... 

Choppin GR (2003) Actinide speciation in the environment. Radiochim Acta 91 645-649 Claus P (1998) Selective hydrogenation of a,P-unsaturated aldehydes and other C = O and C = C bonds containing compounds. Top Catal 5 51-62 Colon D, Weber EJ, Anderson JL, Winget P, Suarez LA (2006) Reduction of nitrobenzenes and N-hydroxylanilines by Fe(II) species Elucidation of the reaction mechanism. Environ Sci Technol 40 4449-4454... 

Aromatic nitro compounds can be converted to the corresponding 4-fluoroanilines if the 4-position carries a hydrogen atom. Thus, nitrobenzene can be converted to 4-fluoroaniline with 100% conversion and 95% selectivity by heating with hydrogen under pressure [platinum(IV) oxide catalyst] in the presence of boron trifluoride-diethyl ether complex at 42°C for 12.5 hours. 3-Chloro-l-nitrobenzene can be similarly hydrogenated-fluorinated to 3-chloro-4-fluoroaniline.25,26... 

The possibility of using of aliphatic alcohols as hydrogen donors for the catalytic transfer reduction of nitro group over MgO was examined. Catalytic hydrogen transfer was found to be effective and selective method for reduction of nitrobenzene, A-nitrotoluene, A-chloronitrobenzene, 4-nitro-m-xylene, 3-nitro-styrene, 3-nitrobenzaldehyde, 1-nitropropane, and 1-nitrobutane. Conversion of starting nitro compound into desired product depended on the alcohol used as a donor. Adsorption of reactant and catalyst deactivation were studied by esr. New aspects of a role of one-electron donor sites in hydrogen transfer over MgD were demonstrated. 

Magnesium oxide exhibited high activity and high selectivity in the hydrogen transfer from alcohols to studied nitroarenes. Because of the limited space of the paper the complete amine yield - temperature dependence was shown only for nitrobenzene reduction (Table 1). However, also for other reactants the yield of the aminic product increased continously between the values obtained at the lowest (350°C) and the highest (450°C) reaction temperatures. Below 350°C the complete lack of activity of MgO in the studied transformation was noted. The same was observed by us earlier (ref. 2) in the case the catalytic transfer reduction of other functional groups. 

In this paper the differences between the behaviour of aliphatic and aromatic nitro compounds adsorbed on a-Mn304 are discussed. The presence of a hydrogen atom on the a-carbon of aliphatic nitro compounds prevents their selective reduction to the nitroso analogues. Suggestions are made concerning the mechanisms of the reduction of nitrobenzene to nitrosobenzene and of the formation of some side products of the reduction (azobenzene and azoxybenzene). 

Palladium complexes of chitin and chitosan have been shown to be active, selective, and stable catalysts for the hydrogenation of olefins, acrylic acid, nitrobenzene etc. at room temperature. Their catalytic activities can be controlled by changing the pH of the solution 90). 

The catalytic gas-phase hydrogenation processes for nitrobenzene can be carried out using a fixed-bed or a fluidized bed reactor. Bayer and Allied work with nickel sulfide catalysts at 300°C to 475°C in a fixed bed. The selectivity to aniline is more than 99%. The catalytic activity slowly decreases due to carbon... 

Terminal alkenes can be hydrogenated selectively in the presence of PdCI2 [63] or RhCl(PPhj)3 [64] and heteropoly compounds. The catalytic system is also highly active for the production of urethane or isocyanate compounds by the reductive carbonylation of nitrobenzene. It is considered that polyoxometalate coordinating with Pd2+ in the reduced form is the active species, since easily reducible heteropolyanions are more active [63]. 

Platinum catalysts have been shown to be highly selective for the hydrogenation of halonitrobenzenes to haloanilines. A number of effective platinum catalysts or catalyst systems have been described in the literature, mostly in patents.96 Dovell and Greenfield found that the sulfides of the platinum metals and cobalt were highly selective in the hydrogenation of halo-substituted nitrobenzenes.117-119 There was no detectable dechlorination with the sulfides of palladium, platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, and cobalt no detectable debromination occurred with platinum sulfide trace debromination occurred with rhodium sulfide and cobalt sulfide and appreciable debromination occurred with palladium sulfide. Typical hydrogenations with 5% platinum sulfide on carbon catalyst are given in eqs. 9.52 and 9.53 with 2,5-dichloronitrobenzene and p-bromobenzene, respectively.118... 

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