Reductions of aromatic nitro compounds with nano-nickel metal

Receiving aromatic amines by reducing nitro groups with NaBH4 and transition metals is a very commonly used method. Since the 1960s, many of catalysts have been developed which present fastly and high yield in mild conditions. Nowadays, the catalysts prepared for the reduction reactions using transition metals proving high activity are still under devolopment. The main objective is to ensure that the catalysts prepared for this purpose are capable of low catalytic loading, re-use of the catalyst and cost-effective properties. In addition, it is quite important that the method to be presented should be environmentally friendly. In this study, nano-nickel particles were prepared and used as catalyst to activate NaBH4 in nitro reduction reactions in EtOH / H2O medium. The scope of the developed method was successfully tested in 16 different aromatic nitro compounds bearing different substituents.