Facile Synthesis of a Ru-based Polyoxometalate for Efficient Reduction of Nitrobenzene†

A non-classical Ru-based polyoxometalate, NaH2[{RuIV(bpy)Cl}2O(PW11O39)]·10H2O (1), was successfully constructed from mono-vacant heteropolytungstates [PW11O39]7- and [RuIV(bpy)Cl]3+. Compound 1 has strong light trapping ability, and the yield of aniline reduced from nitrobenzene under visible light (λ > 400 nm) can reach 99.8%. In addition, a range of extended experiments have demonstrated that compound 1 is an effective and stable heterogeneous catalyst in the reaction of nitrobenzene reduction.