Highly Effective N-TiO2 Supported Pt Catalyst for Selective Hydrogenation of Nitroarenes under Mild Conditions

Abstract

Heterogeneous catalysts are widely explored in the chemoselective hydrogenation of nitroarenes, but achieving a balance between high activity and selectivity remains a significant challenge. Construction of dual active sites is demonstrated as an efficient strategy to break the scaling relationship. Herein, an efficient N-TiO₂ supported Pt catalyst was synthesized, which exhibits better catalytic performance than an undoped Pt/TiO₂ catalyst in the hydrogenation of p-chloronitrobenzene, yielding 97.8% conversion and >99% selectivity of p-chloroaniline under the conditions of 30 °C and 0.5 MPa, as well as good stability and substrate universality. Various characterizations and theoretical calculations disclose that the formed Ti–N species can stabilize the metal Pt and enhance the adsorption of a nitro group, which further cooperates with metal Pt to endow the catalyst with good catalytic performance under mild conditions.