Practical synthesis of aromatic amines by photocatalytic reduction of aromatic nitro compounds on nanoparticles N-doped TiO2

A novel efficient method for the catalytic reduction of aromatic nitro compounds to the corresponding amines was reported. Aromatic nitro compounds were chemoselectively reduced to the corresponding amines by using N-doped TiO2 and potassium iodide as photocatalysts in the presence of methanol. The novel method is highly efficient with very short reaction time (<20 min), excellent yields (>90%) and wide functional group tolerance such as carbonyl, halogen, amino, hydroxyl and carboxylic acid groups. And N-doped TiO2 was prepared by a modified sol-gel method using urea as nitrogen source and had higher photocatalytic activity comparing with pure TiO2. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, XPS, TEM and UV–Vis DRS.