Advances on catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol by nanostructured materials as benchmark reaction

The catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) has become benchmark reaction to assess the activity of the nanostructured materials. Thousands of researchers have already explored their synthesized efficient catalytic nanostructured materials by performing the catalytic reduction of 4-NP. Synthesis of various nanostructured materials and their use as catalyst for reduction of nitrophenol in presence of reducing agents have been discussed here. Reductions of 4-NP have been considered as universally accepted model catalytic reaction due to easy measurement of kinetic parameters through monitoring the reaction by UV–visible spectroscopic techniques. In this review, different aspects of model catalytic reduction related to thermodynamics parameters have been elucidate. Finally, the plausible pathways of catalytic reduction of nitrophenols by various types of nanostructured materials have been discussed here. This literature-based discussion on nitrophenols reduction by nanostructured materials allows us to argue numbers of perception, such as size and structure-dependent catalytic activity, structural chemistry of the active nanoparticles, reconstruction of nanoparticles surface and functions of diffusion to control catalytic activity.Graphical abstract