A mild and selective Cu(II) salts-catalyzed reduction of nitro, azo, azoxy, N-aryl hydroxylamine, nitroso, acid halide, ester, and azide compounds using hydrogen surrogacy of sodium borohydride

The first mild, in situ, single-pot, high-yielding well-screened copper (II) salt-based catalyst system utilizing the hydrogen surrogacy of sodium borohydride for selective hydrogenation of a broad range of nitro substrates into the corresponding amine under habitancy of water or methanol like green solvents have been described. Moreover, this catalytic system can also activate various functional groups for hydride reduction within prompted time, with low catalyst-loading, without any requirement of high pressure or molecular hydrogen supply. Notably, this system explores a great potential to substitute expensive traditional hydrogenation methodologies and thus offers a greener and simple hydrogenative strategy in the field of organic synthesis.