High Turnover Pd/C Catalyst for Nitro Group Reductions in Water. One-Pot Sequences and Syntheses of Pharmaceutical Intermediates.

Commercially available Pd/C can be used as a catalyst for nitro group reductions with only 0.4 mol % Pd loading. The reaction can be performed using either silane as a transfer hydrogenating agent or simply a hydrogen balloon (∼1 atm pressure). With this technology, a series of nitro compounds was reduced to the desired amines in high chemical yields. Both the catalyst and surfactant were recycled several times without loss of reactivity.