A Predictable Catalyst Model for Highly Active and Selective Catalysis of Hydrogenation of Nitroarenes: Comprehension of Various Precious Metal Nanoparticles

Abstract Various precious metal catalysts have been commonly used in catalytic reactions, but the differences and likeness between their catalytic performances are rarely systematically studied. Therefore, we have prepared the Pd, Pt, Rh, Ru, Au, and Ag/Fe 3 O 4 catalysts, and the similarities and differences of various catalysts are analyzed by XRD, FT‐IR, TEM, HR‐TEM, XPS, BET, and VSM characterizations. Besides that platinum is the best catalyst component, the Pd and Rh/Fe 3 O 4 catalysts also exhibit excellent catalytic activity and chemoselectivity, but the Ru, Au, Ag‐containing catalysts show poor catalytic performance for hydrogenation of 4‐nitrophenol. According to the kinetic study, we have demonstrated that the reaction orders for Pd, Pt, and Rh are 0.8, 0.8, and 1.5, respectively. This result reveals that the activity of Pd, Pt, and Rh‐containing catalysts can be precisely predicted. Moreover, our catalytic system is fascinating with many advantages such as environmental friendliness, mild reaction conditions, and the magnetic separability.