Pyrite nanoparticles: an Earth-abundant mineral catalyst for activation of molecular hydrogen and hydrogenation of nitroaromatics

Abstract

Pyrite (FeS2) nanoparticles, a kind of Earth-abundant mineral, can efficiently activate molecular hydrogen under mild conditions.

Ultra-small FeS2 nanoparticles for highly efficient chemoselective transfer hydrogenation of nitroarenes

“…The preparation of FeS 2 nanoparticles as a hydrogenation catalyst was carried out using a modified version of the method described by C. Guo et al and later improved for catalytic purposes by B. Ma et al [27,28] Fe(CH COO) (0.48 g, 2.5 mmol) and elemental sulfur (0.48 g, 15 mmol) was weighed into a teflon lined stainless steel autoclave. 20 mL of ethanol and 10 mL of oleylamine were added to the reagents in the teflon vessel.…”

“…The reason behind the choice to synthesise ultra-small nanoparticles was to maximise the performance of the catalyst in the transfer hydrogenation reaction, as B. Ma et al showed a link between the size of the FeS 2 particles and the conversion of the nitrobenzene substrate, approximately the larger the size the lower the conversion. [27] Therefore, we set out to produce ultra-small nanoparticles to maximise the catalytic performance. T. Li et al reported that lowering the synthesis temperature, in the synthesis of FeS 2 nanoparticles from 260 °C to 180 °C, results in a drastic decrease in the size and distribution of sizes of the obtained nanoparticles, from 18 nm to 3.5 nm.…”

“…[21,26] Iron Pyrite (FeS 2 ) has been demonstrate to be a highly chemoselective catalyst in the hydrogenation of nitroarenes under high pressure H 2 . [17,27] It is a naturally occurring mineral that has been well studied. [16,[28][29][30] It is found commonly in iron, nickel and cobalt ore deposits.…”

“…[16,17] Iron pyrite is also a waste product from iron ore mining and for this reason it is encountering interest in upcycling as a material for energy conversion and catalysis. [16,17,27,28,31] FeS 2 catalysed the activation of molecular hydrogen gas at lower than usual pressure (0.5 MPa) for the chemoselective hydrogenation of nitrobenzenes. [27] Bulk FeS 2 pyrite, has been shown to activate molecular hydrogen for the chemoselective hydrogenation of nitroarenes at 5 MPa of hydrogen.…”

“…[16,17,27,28,31] FeS 2 catalysed the activation of molecular hydrogen gas at lower than usual pressure (0.5 MPa) for the chemoselective hydrogenation of nitrobenzenes. [27] Bulk FeS 2 pyrite, has been shown to activate molecular hydrogen for the chemoselective hydrogenation of nitroarenes at 5 MPa of hydrogen. [17] Fig.…”