Highly Chemoselective Reduction of Nitroaromatic Compounds Using a Hydrotalcite-supported Silver-nanoparticle Catalyst under a CO Atmosphere

Abstract Hydrotalcite-supported silver nanoparticles (Ag/HT) acted as an effective heterogeneous catalyst for the reduction of nitroaromatic compounds using CO/H2O as a reducing reagent. The Ag/HT catalyst system showed complete chemoselectivity for nitro groups in the presence of inter- and intra-molecular olefinic functionalities. Moreover, Ag/HT was reusable without any loss of its activity or selectivity.