Facile fabrication of γ-Fe2O3-nanoparticle modified N-doped porous carbon materials for the efficient hydrogenation of nitroaromatic compounds

Novel gamma-Fe2O3-nanoparticle (NP) modified N-doped porous carbon materials (gamma-Fe2O3/mCN) were prepared by one-pot pyrolysis of a mixture of melamine, polyacrylonitrile, and FeCl3 center dot 6H(2)O at different temperatures. At a pyrolysis temperature of 900 degrees C, gamma-Fe2O3/mCN-900-20 exhibited a high surface area and a N content of 8.47%, caused by the complete pyrolysis of melamine and polyacrylonitrile at 900 degrees C. The obtained material gamma-Fe2O3/mCN-900-20 was used as a cost-effective catalyst for the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene using N2H4 center dot H2O as the reductant under mild reaction conditions. As compared to other catalysts (e.g., noble metal catalysts), gamma-Fe2O3/mCN-900-20 exhibited high catalytic performance (TOF of 311.83 h(-1), selectivity of 100%). During the catalytic hydrogenation of nitroaromatic compounds with reducible groups, e.g., alcoholic hydroxyl, halogen, and amino groups, an excellent selectivity close to 100% was achieved. Moreover, because the active sites of gamma-Fe2O3 has magnetic performance, the catalyst can be easily recovered using a magnet, and reused at least four runs without an obvious activity decrease. Hence, the easily prepared, cost-effective and reusable gamma-Fe2O3/mCN catalyst fabricated in this study demonstrates potential for applications in selective reduction of aromatic nitro compounds.