Synthesis of ruthenium/reduced graphene oxide composites and application for the selective hydrogenation of halonitroaromatics

Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) supported ruthenium (Ru) catalyst was prepared by an impregnation method using RuCl3 as a precursor and RGO as a support. The catalyst Ru/RGO was used for the selective hydrogenation of p-chloronitrobenzene (p-CNB) to p-chloroaniline (p-CAN), showing a selectivity of 96% at complete conversion of p-CNB at 60 °C and 3.0 MPa H2. The Ru/RGO catalyst was extremely active for the hydrogenation of a series of nitroarenes, which can be attributed to the small sized and the fine dispersity of the Ru nanoparticles on the RGO sheets characterized by TEM. Moreover, the catalyst also can be recycled five times without the loss of activity.

Graphical abstractReduced graphene oxide (RGO) supported ruthenium (Ru) catalyst (Ru/RGO) exhibited effective catalytic property for the selective hydrogenation of p-chloronitrobenzene (p-CNB) to p-chloroaniline (p-CAN) at relatively mild conditions (60 °C and 3.0 MPa H2).Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide