An efficient ruthenium-vanadium catalyst for selective hydrogenation of ortho-chloronitrobenzene

An attempt has been made at obtaining a catalyst for hydrogenation of ortho-chloronitrobenzene (o-CNB) to ortho-chloroaniline (o-CAN) which would be both selective and active. Ruthenium has been used as the active phase since it is the most selective of all metals investigated in the above reaction. Catalyst precursors, RuCl3·3H2O and NH4VO3, were introduced onto an unconventional support – MgF2 and reduced in hydrogen flow at 673 K. The catalysts obtained revealed unusually high activity and selectivity in the reaction of hydrogenation of o-CNB to o-CAN, both in the gas- and liquid phase. The structural study of the Ru-V/MgF2 catalyst has shown that its high activity and selectivity were determined by the strong metal–support interactions and ruthenium–VOx species electron interactions.