Fast and efficient reduction of nitro aromatic compounds over Fe3O4/β-alanine-acrylamide-Ni nanocomposite as a new magnetic catalyst

•The synthesized nanocomposite has an excellent chemical stability.•This magnetic catalyst could be prepared by a cheap and simple method.•The catalyst exhibited high catalytic activity in the reduction of nitro compounds.•Short reaction time for the reduction of nitro aromatic compounds is remarkable.•The catalyst has an excellent level of reusability.

In this study, Ni nanoparticles incorporated β-alanine-acrylamide (Ala-AA) was successfully prepared by a simple method. The obtained magnetic nanocomposite exhibited excellent activity as a new heterogeneous magnetic catalyst for the reduction of a number of nitro aromatic compounds under mild conditions along with high level of reusability.