Pressure mediated reduction of aromatic nitro compounds with hydrazine hydrate

Reduction of aromatic nitro compounds to primary amines has been carried out with hydrazine hydrate under moderate nitrogen pressure. Under optimized reaction conditions of 2.0 MPa of nitrogen pressure at 150degreesC nitrobenzene is reduced to aniline in 89.7% yield. Under identical reaction conditions reductions of several other aromatic nitro compounds to their amines have been achieved in moderate to high yield.