Highly Selective Catalytic Reduction of Nitro- to Azoarenes under Ambient Conditions

Catalytic system of Au nanoparticles supported on metal oxides has been developed to produce azoarenes in one-step directly from nitroarenes under mild conditions (30 °C, 1 bar of N2) using 2-propanol as solvent and reducing agent. Close to 100 % chemoselectivity to substituted azoarenes with different functional groups left intact and close to quantitative yields make this procedure promising for the production of azoarenes.