Generation and characterization of palladium nanocatalyst anchored on a novel polyazomethine support: Application in highly efficient and quick catalytic reduction of environmental contaminant nitroarenes

Removal of toxic nitroarenes, which threaten all living organisms and environment, from wastewaters has been an important and prior issue. Therefore, the focus of the present study was to fabricate an effective, fast, reusable, and easily recoverable heterogeneous Pd nanoparticles (Pd NPs) supported on a novel polyazomethine having phenol group (Pd NPs@ P(3-M-4-PAP)) for removal of several hazardous nitroarenes by catalytic reduction from water. Firstly, a novel polyazomethine featuring phenol group was prepared as a stabilizer and then, Pd NPs were anchored on it. Characterizations of the materials were performed by XRD, UV–Vis, FTIR, 1H-NMR, TGA, FE-SEM, EDS and TEM techniques. The obtained TEM analysis results showed that the size of Pd NPs was about 50 nm. Then, catalytic ability of Pd NPs@P(3-M-4-PAP) was investigated in reduction of harmful nitroarenes to useful aniline derivatives in water. Catalytic tests revealed that Pd NPs@P(3-M-4-PAP) had outstanding catalytic efficiency against reduction of different nitroarenes by giving excellent yields (up to 98%), in very short time (between 22s and 70s) with 2 mg nanocatalyst. Moreover, performed reusability test results demonstrated that the Pd NPs@P(3-M-4-PAP) could be recurrently reusable and easily recoverable