Liquid-liquid-liquid phase transfer catalysis: A novel and green concept for selective reduction of substituted nitroaromatics

The selective reduction of nitroaromatics to the corresponding amines is an important transformation since many aromatic amines exhibit biological activities and find a multitude of industrial applications, being intermediates for the synthesis of dyes, pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. A variety of nitroaromatics dissolved in organic solvents was reduced by using aqueous sodium sulfide, and tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB) as the phase transfer catalyst by choosing appropriate concentrations which resulted in three immiscible liquid phases. Compared to L-L PTC, the L-L-L PTC offers much higher rates of reaction, better selectivities and repeated use of catalyst. The selectivities for the desired products were 100%.