Solid supported platinum(0) nanoparticles catalyzed chemo-selective reduction of nitroarenes to N-arylhydroxylamines

Solid supported platinum(0) (SS-Pt) nanoparticles were developed as a heterogeneous catalyst following a reduction/deposition method and characterized by SEM, TEM, EDX and XRD analysis. The SS-Pt catalyst was applied in the chemo-selective reduction of nitroarenes to N-arylhydroxylamines using hydrazine hydrate as a hydrogen source. A wide variety of reducible functional groups such as halides, carboxylic acids, esters, amides, nitriles, keto, alkenes, alkynes and N-benzyl were well tolerated under the reaction conditions. This process was further successfully employed in 10 g scale reactions. N-Arylhydroxylamines were further applied for catalyst free synthesis of azoxybenzenes. Moreover, use of PEG-400 as cheap reaction medium, additive free methodology and the recyclability of SS-Pt catalyst up to ten times without significant loss of catalytic activity evidently follow the principles of green chemistry.