Co,N-Codoped Porous Carbon-Supported CoyZnS with Superior Activity for Nitroarene Hydrogenation

It is a persistent target to develop noble-metal-free catalysts that can achieve chemoselective hydrogenation of nitro compounds under mild reaction conditions. In this work, we report a new strategy for preparation of hydrogenation catalysts containing both CoNx and CoyZnS supported on N-doped porous carbon (CoNx-CoyZnS@NPC-Z). The CoNx-CoyZnS@NPC-Z catalysts were prepared by pyrolyzing the protein–metal-ion networks, followed by treatment with acid. We found that CoNx-CoyZnS@NPC-3 catalyst delivers high catalytic activity and selectivity, affording almost full conversion and >98% selectivity in water/methanol mixture solvents at 90 °C under 5 bar of H2 pressure for 3 h of reaction. Notably, the catalytic hydrogenation can work even under 1 bar of H2 pressure and at room temperature with high conversion and selectivity. Besides, CoNx-CoyZnS@NPC-3 exhibits remarkable tolerance to CO or H2S poisoning and acid erosion.