Effects of Preparation Parameters of NiAl Oxide-Supported Au Catalysts on Nitro Compounds Chemoselective Hydrogenation

Jianbo Zhao; Haifeng Yuan; Jiangcun Li; Wanzhen Bing; Weichuang Yang; Yingfan Liu; Junli Chen; Chengzhen Wei; Liming Zhou; Shaoming Fang

doi:10.1021/acsomega.0c00364

Effects of Preparation Parameters of NiAl Oxide-Supported Au Catalysts on Nitro Compounds Chemoselective Hydrogenation

ACS Omega. 2020 Mar 18;5(12):7011-7017. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.0c00364. eCollection 2020 Mar 31.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Material and Chemical Engineering, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, No. 136 of Science Road, Zhengzhou 450001, P. R. China.
² Institute of Chemical Defence, P.O. Box 1048, Beijing 102205, P. R. China.
³ Henan Province Key Laboratory of New Opto-Electronic Functional Materials, Anyang Normal University, Anyang, Henan 455000, P. R. China.
⁴ Henan Provincial Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Science, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, No. 136 of Science Road, Zhengzhou 450001, P. R. China.

Abstract

Effects of preparation parameters of NiAl oxide-supported Au nanocatalysts on their performance in the chemoselective hydrogenation of nitro compounds were investigated. The deposition-precipitation method, low Au loading, and low Ni/Al molar ratio of the support contributed to the generation of small-sized Au nanoparticles. High catalytic properties were related to the small sizes of Au particles and appropriate basicity of supports. Accordingly, the 0.43% Au/NiAlO-2-500 (the Ni/Al molar ratio of the support = 2) showed high activity and excellent selectivity for nitro hydrogenation. It also showed good versatility for other nitro compounds and good recyclability. Interestingly, for the first time, this Au catalyst switched its selectivity to vinyl hydrogenation by mere regulation of the composition of the support (the Ni/Al molar ratio of the support = 4). The observed shift in selectivity was ascribed to the different adsorption behaviors of the nitro and vinyl group on Au nanocatalysts. It provides a novel and facile strategy to construct Au nanocatalysts with high activity and switchable selectivity for hydrogenation of nitro compounds by the fine tuning of preparation parameters.