Selective reduction of 4,4′-dinitrostilbene-2,2′-disulfonic acid catalyzed by supported nano-sized gold with sodium formate as hydrogen source

Abstract

Abstract Gold nanoparticles supported on four different metal oxides were prepared and applied in the chemoselective reduction of 4,4′-dinitrostilbene-2,2′-disulfonic acid (DNS). With sodium formate as hydrogen source, > 99% of the DNS was transformed into 4,4′-diaminostilbene-2,2′-disulfonic acid (DSD) without the reduction of olefinic group, which uncovers a clean synthetic approach for useful amino substituted stilbene sulfonic acids.