Waste ceramic capacitors as efficient and recyclable catalyst for the reduction of nitroarenes into anilines in water at room temperature

Herein we demonstrate that exhausted ceramic capacitors extracted from waste printed circuit boards ( WC), or commercial ( CC ) can be used as catalysts for the reduction of nitroarenes into anilines using NaBH 4 as the reducing agent. After grinding and calcination, the magnetic fraction of CC and WC was found to be active in catalysis. The hydrogenation of nitroarenes occurred smoothly under environmentally friendly conditions, using water as the solvent at room temperature. In addition, the magnetic properties of the catalyst allowed an easy removal from the reaction medium using a magnet, permitting easy recycling without a significant loss in activity.