Catalyst activity of carbon nanotube supported Pd catalysts for the hydrogenation of nitroarenes

In this study, a carbon nanotube supported Pd (CNT-Pd) catalyst for the hydrogenation of nitroarene compounds was successfully prepared. Our results show that Pd nanoparticles with an average diameter of 2.2 nm are well dispersed on the surface of thiol-functionalized CNTs. The estimated Pd content was approximately 9.8%. The catalyst was found to exhibit good catalytic activity in the hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol with a conversion of 98% within 8 min in the presence of sodium borohydride at room temperature, a turn-over frequency of approximately 810.3 h−1. No significant activity loss was observed after reuse over 8 cycles, which demonstrates an excellent stability and reusability of this CNT-Pd catalyst. Furthermore, the CNT-Pd catalyst was successfully employed with high activity in the hydrogenation of a series of nitroarenes.