Facile Synthesis of Magnetically Recoverable Pd and Ru Catalysts for 4-Nitrophenol Reduction: Identifying Key Factors

This paper reports the development of robust Pd- and Ru-containing magnetically recoverable catalysts in a one-pot procedure using commercially available, branched polyethyleneimine (PEI) as capping and reducing agent. For both catalytic metals, ∼3 nm nanoparticles (NPs) are stabilized in the PEI shell of magnetite NPs, whose aggregation allows for prompt magnetic separation. The catalyst properties were studied in a model reaction of 4-nitrophenol hydrogenation to 4-aminophenol with NaBH₄. A similar catalytic NP size allowed us to decouple the NP size impact on the catalytic performance from other parameters and to follow the influence of the catalytic metal type and amount as well as the PEI amount on the catalytic activity. The best catalytic performances, the 1.2 min^-1 rate constant and the 433.2 min^-1 turnover frequency, are obtained for the Ru-containing catalyst. This is discussed in terms of stability of Ru hydride facilitating the surface-hydrogen transfer and the presence of Ru⁴⁺ species on the Ru NP surface facilitating the nitro group adsorption, both leading to an increased catalyst efficiency. High catalytic activity as well as the high stability of the catalyst performance in five consecutive catalytic cycles after magnetic separation makes this catalyst promising for nitroarene hydrogenation reactions.