Selective formation of aromatic amines by selenium-catalyzed reduction of aromatic nitro compounds with CO/H2O under atmospheric pressure

An efficient method for the catalytic reduction of aromatic nitro compounds to the corresponding aromatic amines is reported. In the presence of selenium as a catalyst, the aromatic nitro compounds are quantitively reduced by CO/H2O to form the corresponding amines under atmospheric pressure. The reduction occurs in high selectivity regardless of other reducible functionalities present on the aromatic ring. There exists a phase transfer process of the catalyst selenium in the reaction. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A mechanism for enhanced photocatalytic activity of silver-loaded titanium dioxide

In this paper, silver-loaded TiO2 photocatalyst was prepared by photochemical impregnation method and characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS), photooxidation of phenol and photoreduction of Cr(VI). Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) was used to detect photoproduced paramagnetic radicals. The correlation of photocatalytic activity and photogenerated reactive species was discussed, and the mechanism of silver-loaded TiO2 for enhancement of photocatalytic activity was elucidated. The results show that deposited silver on TiO2 Surface acts as a site where electrons accumulate. The better separation between electrons and holes on the modified TiO2 surface allowed more efficiency for the oxidation and reduction reactions. The enhanced photocatalytic activity was mainly attributed to the increased amounts of O-2(.-) reactive species and surface Ti3+ reactive center on silver-loaded TiO2 photocatalyst. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.