Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Monatshefte für Chemie - Chemical Monthly https://doi.org/10.1007/s00706-020-02679-2 ORIGINAL PAPER Palladium(II) complexes assembled on solid materials: as catalysts for the –NO 2 (nitro) to –NH 2 (amine) reactions Serkan Dayan 1  · Nilgün Kayacı 2  · Namık Özdemir 3  · Osman Dayan 4  · Nilgun Kalaycioglu Ozpozan 2 Received: 1 May 2020 / Accepted: 1 September 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature 2020 Abstract Herein, a new series of [PdCl 2 (L) 2 ] complexes where ligands are monodentate amine ligands bearing sulfonamide groups were synthesized, characterized using various techniques such as NMR, FT-IR, UV–Vis, and sc-XRD and investigated for their catalytic performance for the reduction of nitroarenes (2-nitroaniline, 4-nitroaniline, and nitrobenzene) in the presence of NaBH 4 in water under heterogeneous conditions. Because the results show that the synthesized complexes are very efcient catalysts, materials using the selected palladium(II) complex supported by multiwall carbon nanotubes, silicon dioxide, and iron(II,III) oxide (Fe 3 O 4 ) were fabricated by a simple-impregnation methodology, characterized by FT-IR, BET, TEM, and XRD techniques and investigated for their catalytic performance for the same reaction. Thus, a series of supported catalysts was designed with the aim of both enhancing catalytic activity and reducing noble-metal contents. Our fndings serve to develop simple catalytic systems and this system can be easily used for catalytic reduction reactions which are the cornerstone of the production of important chemicals. Graphic abstract Keywords Palladium(ii) complexes · Supported catalysts · Nitrobenzene · Hydrogenation Introduction Nitro compounds are widely regarded as contaminants found in industrial waste and they pose a serious problem for both living organisms and the ecosystem. Also, amine compounds formed by the hydrogenation of nitro compounds are used in many areas as qualifed chemicals; for example, as chelating agents in pharmaceuticals, polymers, pesticides, explosives, fbers, dyes, and cosmetics, etc. [1–7]. The most suitable method to produce aromatic amines which belong to the group of compounds that are more useful than nitroben- zene derivatives is an efcient, environmentally friendly, catalytic system operating in mild conditions. In this case, many processes have been developed, including adsorption/ Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00706-020-02679-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Serkan Dayan serkandayan@erciyes.edu.tr 1 Drug Application and Research Center, Erciyes University, 38039 Kayseri, Turkey 2 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Erciyes University, 38039 Kayseri, Turkey 3 Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Faculty of Education, Ondokuz Mayıs University, 55139 Samsun, Turkey 4 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, 17020 Çanakkale, Turkey