Synergistic Effects of ppm Levels of Palladium on Natural Clinochlore for Reduction of Nitroarenes.

Augmenting the modified naturally occurring clay clinochlore with ppm amounts of palladium leads to a new and very effective reagent for the reduction of numerous aromatic nitro species. When palladium nanoparticles are supported on pyridyltriazole-modified clinochlore, iron within clinochlore acts synergistically with palladium to catalyze the reduction of a wide variety of nitroarenes at room temperature in aqueous media. Based on E-factor calculations, the catalyst system is found to be in line with green chemistry standards and can be recycled up to five times.