Tailoring the surface structure of iron compounds to optimize the selectivity of 3-nitrostyrene hydrogenation reaction over Pt catalyst

ABSTRACT Selective hydrogenation of substituted nitroarenes is an important reaction to obtain amines. Supported metal catalysts are wildly used in this reaction because the surface structure of supports can tune the properties of the supported metal nanoparticles (NPs) and promote the selectivity to amines. Herein, Pt NPs were immobilized on FeOOH, Fe3O4 and α-Fe2O3 nanorods to synthesize a series of iron compounds supported Pt catalysts by liquid phase reduction method. Chemoselective hydrogenation of 3-nitrostyrene to 3-aminostyrene was used as probe reaction to evaluate the performance of the catalysts. The results show that Pt/FeOOH exhibits the highest selectivity and activity. FeOOH support with pores and -OH groups can tune the electronic structure of Pt NPs. The positive charge of Pt NPs supported on FeOOH is key factor for improving the catalytic performance.