Facile synthesis of iron-titanate nanocomposite as a sustainable material for selective amination of substitued nitro-arenes

The fabrication of durable and low-cost nanostructured materials remains important in chemical, biologic and medicinal applications. Particularly, iron-based nanomaterials are of central importance due to the ‘noble’ features of iron such as its high abundance, low cost and non-toxicity. Herein we report a simple sol–gel method for the synthesis of novel iron–titanium nanocomposite-based material (Fe₉TiO₁₅@TiO₂). In order to prepare this material, we made a polymeric gel using ferrocene, titanium isopropoxide and THF precursors. The calcination of this gel in air at 500^◦C produced Fe-Ti bimetallic nanoparticles-based composite and nano-TiO₂ as support. Noteworthy, our methodology provides an excellent control over composition, size and shape of the resulting nanoparticles. The resulted Fe-based material provides a sustainable catalyst for selective synthesis of anilines, which are key intermediates for the synthesis of several chemicals, dyes and materials, via reduction of structurally diverse and functionalized nitroarenes.