Highly Chemo- and Regioselective Transfer Reduction of Aromatic Nitro Compounds using Ammonium Formate Catalyzed by Supported Gold Nanoparticles

A highly chemo- and regioselective reduction of a wide diversity of aromatic nitro compounds to the corresponding amines has been achieved by a combination of gold nanoparticles supported on titania and ammonium formate (HCOONH(4)) in ethanol at room temperature. Furthermore, a direct and mild route to formanilides from aromatic nitro compounds bearing different functional groups by reductive N-formylation using the gold-mediated transfer reduction protocol is also established.