Copper Nanoparticles-Decorated\nCarbon Nanoflakes as\na Catalyst for Nitroaromatic Reduction

Herein,\nwe have developed highly active copper nanoparticles (CuNPs)-decorated\ncarbon nanoflakes (CNFs) as a catalyst for the efficient reduction\nof nitroaromatic compounds, including para-nitrophenol (PNP), 2,4-dinitrophenol\n(DNP), and 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP), to their respective amines\nat room temperature in the presence of sodium borohydride (NaBH<sub>4</sub>) in water. It is observed that the percentage of reduction\nof PNP is ∼100%, and more interestingly, the catalyst reduces\neven DNP and TNP with an excellent conversion yield of ∼95\nand ∼94%, respectively, within 15 min. The reduction reaction\nof nitroaromatic compounds follows pseudo-first-order kinetics with\nrate constants of 0.2962, 0.19893, and 0.20866 min<sup>–1</sup> for PNP, DNP, and TNP, respectively. UV–vis absorption and\nFT-IR spectra confirm the conversion of nitroaromatic derivatives\nto their corresponding amine derivatives. Finally, we also established\nthe plausible reaction mechanism for the reduction process by carrying\nout various control experiments. In brief, the reduction of nitrophenol\noccurs via the adsorption of activated hydrogen and nitrophenolate\nions followed by reduction through electron transfer and by taking\nactive H from the surface of Cu-CNFs.