Tandem Dehydrogenation of Ammonia Borane and Hydrogenation of Nitro/Nitrile Compounds Catalyzed by Graphene-Supported NiPd Alloy Nanoparticles

Abstract

We report a facile synthesis of monodisperse NiPd alloy nanoparticles (NPs) and their assembly on graphene (G) to catalyze the tandem dehydrogenation of ammonia borane (AB) and hydrogenation of R-NO₂ and/or R-CN to R-NH₂ in aqueous methanol solutions at room temperature. The 3.4 nm NiPd alloy NPs were prepared by coreduction of nickel­(II) acetate and palladium­(II) acetlyacetonate by borane-<i>tert</i>-butylamine in oleylamine and deposition on G via a solution phase self-assembly process. G-NiPd showed composition-dependent catalysis on the tandem reaction with G-Ni₃₀Pd₇₀ being the most active. A variety of R-NO₂ and/or R-CN derivatives were reduced selectively into R-NH₂ via G-Ni₃₀Pd₇₀ catalyzed tandem reaction in 5–30 min reaction time with the conversion yields reaching up to 100%. Our study demonstrates a new approach to G-NiPd-catalyzed dehydrogenation of AB and hydrogenation of R-NO₂ and R-CN. The G-NiPd NP catalyst is efficient and reusable, and the reaction can be performed in an environment-friendly process with short reaction times and high yields