Transition metal oxides as catalysts for the selective reduction of nitrobenzene

Abstract

The activity of various 3d, 4d and 5d transition metal oxides in the selective reduction of nitrobenzene to nitrosobenzene has been investigated. An attempt has been made to find a correlation between these activities and several properties of the oxides investigated, such as their place in the Periodic Table, structure, reducibility, heat of formation and surface metal—oxygen bond strength. A weak volcano-shape correlation can be seen with the heat of formation and the surface metal—oxygen bond strength.