Cu nanorods and nanospheres and their excellent catalytic activity in chemoselective reduction of nitrobenzenes

Highly selective chemical route for the hydrothermal synthesis of Cu0 nanorods and nanospheres using a long chain saturated fatty acid, viz. lauric acid as template is reported. Our experimental results revealed Cu nanorods are of ca. 14 nm diameters and 100–235 nm length, whereas the nanospheres are of dimensions 2–15 nm diameter. Cu nanospheres show much enhanced catalytic activity over the nanorods for the chemoselective reduction of 4-nitrophenol and 5-nitroisophthalic acid to respective substituted anilines in one pot at room temperature, suggesting the role of particle size and shape in catalytic reduction.