Skip to main content

H2/PMC reduction in supercritical fluids

Mechanism + Description

As for hydrogenation with PMC in conventional solvents. Usually conducted as a flow process with packed bed catalyst.

General comments

Reduction of certain nitro compounds to amines is feasible in supercritical CO2 and solvent mixtures gas expanded with CO2. This technique is limited to the preparation of amines that do not form insoluble carbamates with CO2. An attractive feature of this technology is that gases (H2) are highly soluble in supercritical fluids / gas-expanded liquids, thus mass transfer issues found with conventional solvents are avoided.

 

Key references

Green Chemistry 2012,14, 3415 Pd nanoparticles supported on B-MCM-41: an efficient catalyst for hydrogenation of nitroaromatics in supercritical carbon dioxide
Org. Process Res. Dev., 1998, 2 (3), 137  Selective catalytic hydrogenation of organic compounds in supercritical fluids as a continuous process

Relevant scale up example

None found.