Light-driven integration of the reduction of nitrobenzene to aniline and the transformation of glycerol into valuable chemicals in water

Abstract

Both effective utilization of glycerol and reduction of nitrobenzene to aniline are of great importance. It is very interesting to integrate these processes. This work reports the integration of the efficient conversion of nitrobenzene to aniline and transformation of glycerol to valuable chemicals driven by UV-light using Pd/TiO₂ as the catalyst and water as the solvent at ambient temperature. In this integrated reaction process, glycerol acted as the hydrogen source for the reduction of nitrobenzene to aniline and the glycerol was converted into value-added chemicals simultaneously. At the optimized conditions, nitrobenzene could be converted completely with aniline selectivity of 95% with a nitrobenzene to glycerol mole ratio of 1 : 5. At the same time, glycerol was oxidized to form fine chemicals, including 1,3-dihydroxyacetone, glyceraldehyde, formic acid, and hydroxyacetic acid. This work opens up a new and effective way for transformation of glycerol to fine chemicals and production of aniline from nitrobenzene.