Cobalt oxide NPs immobilized on environmentally benign biological macromolecule-derived N-doped mesoporous carbon as an efficient catalyst for hydrogenation of nitroarenes

Abstract

Highly nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon (N-mC) material incorporated cobalt oxide nanoparticles was synthesized through simple pyrolysis of environmentally friendly chitosan-polyaniline-Co(OAc)2 precursor in one-step. The as-prepared catalyst named CoO@N-mC with 14.65 ​wt% nitrogen content was characterized by different analysis techniques. The heterogeneous catalyst exhibits outstanding catalytic activity for the reduction of a variety of nitroaromatic compounds in the presence of NaBH4 as a reducing agent in water as a green solvent at 75 ​°C. Utilization of natural biological macromolecules such as chitosan as green and cheap starting material with harmless aniline and earth-abundant cobalt salt, facile synthesis, excellent product yield, short reaction time, high chemoselectivity, sustainable and mild reaction condition, and reusability of catalyst for at least five cycles without any significant decline in the catalytic efficiency are some prominent merits of this new nanocatalyst.