A Nonmetal Catalyst for Molecular Hydrogen Activation with Comparable Catalytic Hydrogenation Capability to Noble Metal Catalyst

Fullerene can activate molecular hydrogen and is a novel nonmetal hydrogenation catalyst. The hydrogenation of aromatic nitro compounds to amino aromatics is achieved on this catalyst with high conversion and selectivity under 1 atmospheric pressure of H2 and light irradiation at room temperature or under conditions of 120−160 °C and 4−5 MPa H2 pressure without light irradiation, which is comparable to the case with a noble metal catalyst.