Reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol using Pt/HKUST-1 catalyst

Abstract

The catalyst Pt/HKHUST-1 was used for synthesis 4-aminophenol (4-AP) by reducsion 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). Factors that affected to the reaction were tested: ratio 4-NP/NaBH4, temperature and time of the reaction. Changing the ratio of 4-NP/NaBH4 in the direction of increasing NaBH4, the reaction rate increases. However, it is acceptable to reduce the reaction rate when synthesizing with high concentration of reactants. The 4-AP synthesis is performed with ratio 4-NP/NaBH4 = 1/5, suitable time and temperature for this reaction is 60 minutes and 15 oC. The catalyst sample containing 2% Pt on HKUST-1 material was used to synthesize 4-AP with the yield of 65.3% (average 64.2%), the catalyst has good stability, can reused many times. The purity of 4-AP after refining was 99 %.