Enhanced Catalytic Selectivity in Hydrogenation of Substituted Nitroarenes through Hydrogen Spillover over Sodalite Zeolite Encapsulated Platinum Clusters

Abstract Herein, we reported that the platinum (Pt) clusters encapsulated into sodalite (SOD) zeolite as catalyst exhibited 100 % selectivity at 100 % conversion in the selective hydrogenation of p ‐chloronitrobenzene to p ‐chloroaniline via hydrogen spillover. The direct interaction between p ‐chloronitrobenzene and encapsulated Pt was prevented by the shape selectivity of SOD zeolite, reactants were thereby adsorbed onto zeolite outer surface to facilitate the hydrogenation proceeding by hydrogen spillover process. The further kinetic study and DFT calculation showed the excellent catalytic selectivity was ascribed to the much faster rate of hydrogenation of adsorbed nitro group than that of adsorbed C−Cl group.