Hydrogenation of 1-Nitroanthraquinone to 1-Aminoanthraquinone Catalyzed by Bimetallic CuPtx Nanoparticles.

ABSTRACT

Bimetallic CuPtx nanoparticles were prepared in ethanol solution by the wet chemical reduction method using Cu(NO3)2 and H2PtCl6 as starting materials, hydrazine hydrate as a reductant, and polyvinyl pyrrolidone as an organic modifier. The average particle sizes of Cu and Pt nanoparticles were 60 nm and 3 nm, respectively. The small-sized Pt nanoparticles were evenly anchored at the surfaces of large-sized Cu nanoparticles, forming Cu@Pt core-shell structured nanocomposites. In the bimetallic CuPtx nanoparticles, electron was transferred from platinum to copper species, which increased the selectivity of 1-aminoanthraquinone by suppressing the high hydrogenation activity of metallic platinum. The CuPt0.1 bimetallic nanoparticles exhibited higher catalytic activity for the hydrogenation of 1-nitroanthraquinone to 1-aminoanthraquinone than both monometallic Cu and Pt nanoparticles. Over the CuPt0.1 catalyst, the selectivity of 1-aminoanthraquinone was 99.3% at the 1-nitroanthraquinone conversion of 98.9%.