Selective reduction of nitro group using CuNi bimetallic nanoparticles

Bimetallic nanoparticles have shown a lot of promise as catalysts in the recent years. This piece of work highlights the use of nanocatalyst for the chemoselective reduction of nitro group in presence of other reducible functional groups. CuNi bimetallic nanoparticles of varying composition (1:1, 1:2) have been synthesized by polyol method using metal sulphates with hydrazine hydrate as reducing agent. The characterization of synthesised nanoparticles was done by XRD and FESEM with EDX, which confirm FCC structure and composition of synthesised bimetallic nanoparticles. Particle size varies with composition i.e. 23 nm for (1:1) and 20 nm for (1:2).The selective reduction of p-nitrophenol, p-nitrobenzaldehyde and 2,4 dinitrophenol was performed in water using both single Ni nanoparticles and bimetallic CuNi nanoparticles (1:1, 1:2) with hydrazine hydrate as reducing agent at room temperature. The various amino products obtained has various industrial applications. UV-visible spectroscopy was used to monitor the progress of the reaction. The bimetallic nanoparticles facilitated the rate of reaction much as compared to single Ni nanoparticles. [GRAPHICS] .