Nitration of benzene to nitrobenzene using NO2 as nitro source under mild and solvent‐free conditions

In this work, a green and efficient method was developed to catalyze the nitration of benzene to nitrobenzene in NO2‐O2 system by using acidic ion exchange resin as catalyst under mild (0 °C and atmospheric pressure) and solvent‐free conditions. Based on experimental screening, commercial acid ion exchange resin Amberlite FPC3500 was identified as the optimal catalyst. Under the optimized reaction conditions, 99.9% conversion of benzene was obtained with 99.1% selectivity of nitrobenzene. Furthermore, the catalyst can be easily reused. The results demonstrate a greener route for the production of nitrobenzene.