Highly Chemo‐ and Regioselective Reduction of Aromatic Nitro Compounds Catalyzed by Recyclable Copper(II) as well as Cobalt(II) Phthalocyanines

Abstract

AbstractCopper/cobalt phthalocyanines were established for the first time as catalysts for the very efficient chemo‐ and regioselective reduction of aromatic nitro compounds to generate the corresponding amines. The selective reduction of nitro compounds was observed in the presence of a large range of functional groups such as aldehyde, keto, acid, amide, ester, halogen, lactone, nitrile and heterocyclic functional groups. Furthermore, the present method was found to be highly regioselective towards the reduction of aromatic dinitro compounds in a short time with high yields. In most of the cases the conversion and selectivity were >99% as monitored by GC‐MS. The reduction mechanism was elucidated by UV‐vis and electrospray ionization quadrupole time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry.