Acceptorless dehydrogenative oxidation of primary alcohols to carboxylic acids and reduction of nitroarenes via hydrogen borrowing catalyzed by a novel nanomagnetic silver catalyst

A novel silver nano magnetic catalyst was devised for dehydrogenative oxidation of aromatic and aliphatic alcohols to the corresponding acid with water as the sole oxygen source and hydrogen gas as the only byproduct. The designed catalytic system advantages from easy recovery of magnetic materials i.e. magnetic decantation, being economically viable and environmentally friendly. Furthermore, the catalytic reaction is able to reduce aryl nitro compounds in the absence of any reducing agent. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.