Organic-inorganic nano-hybrid decorated by copper (II) incarceration: A versatile catalytic assembly for the swift reduction of aromatic nitro and dye compounds

The present work proposes a new copper (II) ensnared organic-inorganic nano-hybrid (Cu·Am-sil@SiO2) that demonstrates an unparalleled catalytic efficiency for the reduction of a series of aromatic nitro compounds as well as diverse organic dyes. The synthesis of the immobilized nanoscopic material has been achieved facilely by the recently developed ‘atrane’ route for which a multifarious ligand in the form of dipicolinamide tethered bis-silatrane framework was selected that served as a scaffold for copper ions. The nanomaterial has been courteously characterized by FT-IR, XRD, TG, SEM, TEM, EDX and ED-XRF techniques. The reduction experiments catalyzed by the fabricated heterogeneous system have led to an immensely chemo-selective conversion of nitroarenes to the corresponding aniline derivatives and the same protocol is found to be pertinent for the reductive degradation of two different sorts of organic dyes. Good agreement with reduction efficiency is found by utilizing the recovered catalyst for a sequence of seven repeated cycles, underlining the archetype validity of the catalyst. Conspicuously, the present system can be envisaged as an outcome of the paradigm shift in chemical constructions owing to the implications of eco-friendly and green reaction conditions along with recovery and reusability laurels.