Selective photocatalytic reduction of nitroarenes into amines based on cobalt/copper ferrite and cobalt-doped copper ferrite nano-photocatalyst

The reductions of nitro groups in nitroaromatic compounds to amino-aromatic have great opportunities in synthetic chemistry. Previously the process of nitroaromatic reduction used catalytic systems operated under hard conditions, leading to missing the pure and high yield of the final products. Here, a cobalt ferrite, copper ferrite, and cobalt-doped copper ferrite nanocatalyst were prepared using the citrate spontaneous combustion method. In addition to the properties of the prepared nanocatalyst, the present methodology describes the effective reduction of a variety of nitroaromatic compounds into corresponding anilines under visible light illumination. The cobalt-doped copper ferrite photocatalyst showed excellent activity up to 99% by converting nitroaniline into amino-aniline. The optimized catalytic conditions (room temperature, atmospheric pressure, and visible light irradiation) were applied in the reduction of a series of nitroarenes giving a high conversion rate (93–98%) and selectivity (95–99%). The photocatalytic system has the advantage due to the lack of filtration in the recycling experiments and the high stability of up to six cycles.