Environmentally benign heterogeneous nano-particle catalysts: synthesis, characterization and catalytic activity of 4-nitrophenol.

Pollution free catalyst is an attractive area of current interest. The p-Aminophenol is one of the most significant catalyst, because it involves the manufacture of various pharmaceuticals. Crosslinked poly(styrene)-co-poly(4-vinylimidazole) (PSPVIM) was prepared by varying the crosslinked monomer ratio as 2% and 10% respectively. The 2 (w%) of DVB, 25 (w%) of N-VIm as functional monomer and 73 (w%) of styrene as support monomer as organic phase and gelatin, boric acid and polyvinyl alcohol as aqueous phase was used to prepare cross-linked poly(styrene)-co-poly(N-vinyl imidazole) (PVIM) beads (Type-I). Similarly, Type II beads were also prepared by fixing the 10% as a cross linking ratio (DVB). The immobilization of Ag NPs onto the PS-VIm polymer matrix was performed using AgNO3 as a metal precursor solution. The k(obs) determined from UV-Vis results, reveals that the degree of reduction of 4-nitrophenol using Type-I catalysts is more effective than Type-II catalyst due to lower immobilization of AgNPs at higher cross-linked bead matrix. It was found that on increasing the amount of catalyst i.e., type-I PS-PVIm-AgNPs, the rate constant also increases. Therefore, PS-PVIm-AgNPs (Type-I) heterogeneous catalyst is superior for the reduction of 4-NP.