Easy recycling of nanoscale Fe2O3-based catalysts for nitroarene reduction to anilines by the pyrolysis of a metallogel

An organic gelator N4,N4′-di(pyridin-3-yl)-[2,2′-bipyridine]-4,4′-dicarboxamide and Fe3+ are used to self-assemble to form a new metallogel Fe-2B-N3 under mild conditions, and its structure and properties were investigated using NMR, MS and rheology. Further pyrolysis of the metallogel Fe-2B-N3 yielded a high-performance Fe2O3-based heterogeneous catalytic material L, which was characterized using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and specific surface area analysis (BET). The catalytic material L showed good catalytic performance and stability for the reduction of nitroaromatic compounds (NACs) to amine compounds. Especially under mild and simple conditions, p-chloronitrobenzene can be reduced to p-chloroaniline in 10 minutes, with a conversion rate of over 99%. Furthermore, the catalytic material L was highly recyclable in a simple manner, thus expanding the application of metallogels.