Attractive Tandem Hydrogenation of Nitroaromatics Using AB as a Hydrogen Source over Pomelo Peel-Templated Bimetallic CuO–NiO/PP Nanocomposites

The hydrogenation of aromatic nitro compounds to aromatic amines is an important chemical reaction. Currently, it is attractive that transfer hydrogenation of nitroaromatics occurs in the presence of hydrogen-rich compounds. Herein, Shatian pomelo peel (PP)-templated bimetallic CuO–NiO/PP nanocomposites were prepared by a simple coprecipitation method. The catalytic performance of CuO–NiO/PP was screened for the tandem hydrogenation of m-chloronitrobenzene in the presence of ammonia borane. The experimental result shows that CuO–NiO/PP nanocomposites exhibit excellent activity and high selectivity, achieving a 100% yield of m-chloroaniline within 10 min at room temperature. Especially, CuO–NiO/PP displayed good ability for inhibiting the hydrogenated dehalogenation in the hydrogenation of iodo- or bromo-substituted nitroaromatics and obtained an excess 80% yield of iodo- or bromo-substituted anilines. Meantime, CuO–NiO/PP nanocomposites have high selectivity for 16 nitroaromatics containing additional functional groups. In contrast to the non-templated sample, the CuO–NiO/PP did not display significant deactivation in the recycling test, suggesting its relatively better recyclability. Moreover, CuO–NiO/PP possesses better reactivity against the other two peel (green PP and grapefruit peel)-templated controls.