Abstract
The fabrication of durable and low-cost nanostructured materials remains important in chemical, biologic and medicinal applications. Particularly, iron-based nanomaterials are of central importance due to the ‘noble’ features of iron such as its high abundance, low cost and non-toxicity. Herein we report a simple sol–gel method for the synthesis of novel iron–titanium nanocomposite-based material (Fe9TiO15@TiO2). In order to prepare this material, we made a polymeric gel using ferrocene, titanium isopropoxide and THF precursors. The calcination of this gel in air at 500 °C produced Fe-Ti bimetallic nanoparticles-based composite and nano-TiO2 as support. Noteworthy, our methodology provides an excellent control over composition, size and shape of the resulting nanoparticles. The resulted Fe-based material provides a sustainable catalyst for selective synthesis of anilines, which are key intermediates for the synthesis of several chemicals, dyes and materials, via reduction of structurally diverse and functionalized nitroarenes.
Highlights
Among nanomaterials, synthesis of non-noble metal based nanostructures is crucial to mitigate the cost associated with the valued applications such as heterogeneous catalysis, biologic applications and many more [1,2]
We report an expedient sol–gel process for the preparation of novel heterometallic iron and titanium (Fe9 TiO15 @TiO2 ) nanocomposite material. This methodology leads to the formation of both Fe–Ti active nanoparticles and nano-TiO2 as stable support. This new material is was tested for selective reduction of functionalized and structurally diverse nitroarenes to corresponding anilines using hydrazine hydrate as a source of hydrogen
transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images at 100 nm resolution showed particles sized between 10–36 nm, which suggests that nanoparticles were constituted of 1–2 crystallites (Figure S2)
Summary
Synthesis of non-noble metal based nanostructures is crucial to mitigate the cost associated with the valued applications such as heterogeneous catalysis, biologic applications and many more [1,2]. The high surface-to-volume ratio, low dimensionality, controllable particle size and morphology during synthetic processes, make them potential candidates for use in heterogeneous catalysis. Another key feature of iron nanoparticles as catalyst is magnetism of these materials, which allows effortless separation by an external magnet. We report an expedient sol–gel process for the preparation of novel heterometallic iron and titanium (Fe9 TiO15 @TiO2 ) nanocomposite material This methodology leads to the formation of both Fe–Ti active nanoparticles and nano-TiO2 as stable support. This new material is was tested for selective reduction of functionalized and structurally diverse nitroarenes to corresponding anilines using hydrazine hydrate as a source of hydrogen. The resulting anilines constitute are key intermediate precursors for production of specialty and bulk chemicals, molecules significant in life sciences, dyes’ industry and several petrochemicals
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