superparamagnetic core-shell metal-organic framework (fe3o4@ni-co-btc nps): an efficient and magnetically retrievable nanostructured catalyst for the reduction of nitro compounds to amines

superparamagnetic core-shell metal-organic framework (fe3o4@ni-co-btc nps): an efficient and magnetically retrievable nanostructured catalyst for the reduction of nitro compounds to amines

herein, a highly efficient and chemoselective strategy was developed for the reduction of nitro compounds in the presence of a bimetallic nanocatalyst. thanks to inimitable structure of fe3o4@ni-co-btc nps, this catalyst exhibits superior catalytic performance for the reduction of electron-donating and electron-withdrawing aromatic, heteroaromatic, heterocyclic and aliphatic nitro compounds. interestingly, the aforesaid nanocatalyst showed high chemoselectivity for the reduction of the nitro group in the presence of other reducible functional groups such as cooh, cho, coch3, cn, nhac and ococh3. furthermore, fe3o4@ni-co-btc nps could be easily separated from the reaction mixture and reused for at least seven consecutive recycle runs.