Scientists Make an International Headway in Hydrogenation of All Types of Nitriles

Prof. Manoj Gawande from ICT- MARJ and his global team of researchers from Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Material (RCPTM), Czech Republic and Leibniz Institute for Catalysis (LIKAT), Germany have published an article that outlines the development of iron-based heterogeneous catalysts for the hydrogenation of all types of nitriles in a notable international journal, Nature Catalysis.

Catalysis plays a decisive role in many chemical processes involving the industrial production of a large majority of fine and bulk chemicals, polymeric materials and many other daily-use products. The discovery and applications of suitable catalysts have played a crucial role in developing organic synthesis over the last 100 years.

Prof. Manoj B. Gawande (FRSC, FICS), from the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai-Marathwada Campus, Jalna, India and Czech Advanced Technology and Research Institute, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic has been involved with the research groups of Prof. Jagadeesh Rajenahally and Prof. Matthias Beller, from Germany and Prof. Radek Zbořil from the Czech Republic. Together, they have made a significant contribution to the advanced characterization of novel Fe-catalysts and related materials. 

The first nitrile hydrogenation reaction, performed in 1905, was further utilised to prepare a wide range of primary amines. "We were surprised to notice that until now there is no heterogeneous Fe-based catalyst developed for this industrially relevant hydrogenation reaction. Hope this work opens the doors for further challenging industrial reactions," said Prof. Jagadeesh Rajenahally from LIKAT, Germany.

Prof. Gawande believes that iron is not only available abundantly and inexpensively but is also less toxic. Iron-based nanocatalysts are crucial to achieve practical, sustainable and cost-effective synthesis of essential compounds.

To prepare this catalyst, the researchers grew rod-like iron nanoparticles from quartz mass. “The iron nanoparticles are coated in a multi-nanometre shell of iron oxide, which seems to be absolutely crucial for achieving a high amine yield. Equally important is the presence of small amounts of aluminium,” described the material Prof. Radek Zbořil, from CATRIN and VSB-TUO. These nanoparticles have craters on the catalytic surface which increases the surface area, promoting the hydrogenation of all types of nitriles, including structurally challenging and functionally diverse aromatic, heterocyclic, aliphatic and fatty nitriles, to produce primary amines under scalable and industrially viable conditions. The resulting primary amines are then used as precursors and intermediates for the synthesis of specialized chemicals, medicines, agrochemicals, biomolecules and other materials. This result paves the way for more research towards using iron-based nano-architecture in other challenging transformations.

Matthias Beller, the Director of the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis in Rostock, Germany, calls this catalyst “an almost magical nanomaterial in which all components have a defined role.” This collaborative work can have a major impact on the global effort to find an industrially usable low-cost catalysis that has the potential to replace the noble metals that have been used in reactions that use molecular hydrogen as a reactant.                                     

ICT Mumbai appreciates this breakthrough discovery and congratulates Prof. Gawande for being a part of this achievement and publication in the Nature family journal.