Chemo-selective reduction of nitro and nitrile compounds using Ni nanoparticles immobilized on hyperbranched polymer-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles

The nitro and nitrile groups in aromatic and aliphatic compounds containing various reducible substituents such as carboxylic acid, ketone, aldehyde and halogen are selectively reduced to the corresponding amines in water as a green solvent with excellent yields by employing NaBH4 in the presence of Fe3O4@PAMAM/Ni(0)-b-PEG nanocatalyst. The morphology and structural features of the catalyst were characterized using various microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. The designed catalyst system because of it being covered with hydrophilic polymers is soluble in a wide range of solvents (e.g. water and ethanol) and suitable for immobilizing and stabilizing Ni nanoparticles in aqueous mediums. In addition, the catalyst can be easily recovered from a reaction mixture by applying an external magnetic field and can be reused up to six runs without significant loss of activity.