Synergy of metallic Co and Co-N species in highly dispersed Co based catalyst for enhanced nitroarene hydrogenation

Design of metal Co-based catalysts by different strategies has aroused many attentions in the chemoselective hydrogenation of nitroarenes to improve their catalytic performance. Herein, Co(6)-N-C catalyst with highly dispersed metal Co and Co-N species was synthesized by the assistance of formed Zn species, which exhibits better performance than single atom Co catalyst in the selective hydrogenation of 3-nitrostyrene, in which the increasing of hydrogenation activity is usually accompanied by unsatisfactory selectivity. In this work, Co(6)-N-C catalyst obtains 98.5 % conversion and > 99 % selectivity of 3-vinylaniline, as well as excellent cyclic stability and desirable substrate universality for the hydrogenation of other substituted nitroarenes. It is demonstrated that the good performance is ascribed to the synergy of metallic Co and Co-N species in the Co(6)-N-C catalyst, improving the activity and selectivity. This work provides a novel strategy to construct an efficient Co-based catalyst for enhanced hydrogenation performance.