Iridium nanoparticles deposited on hypercrosslinked polystyrene: synthesis and application in the hydrogenation of aromatic compounds

A novel method for the incorporation of iridium nanoparticles into a hypercrosslinked polystyrene matrix is developed using supercritical CO2 as reaction medium. The composite has regularly distributed iridium nanoparticles with monomodal size of ca 5 nm. The catalyst shows high activity in the hydrogenation of benzene and can be recycled ten times without any decrease in productivity. The catalyst gave a full conversion in the hydrogenation of toluene to methylcyclohexane and fluoro- and chlorobenzene to cyclohexane.