REDUCTIVE TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE NITRO GROUP: FROM HOMOGENEOUS TO HETEROGENEOUS CATALYSIS

This thesis focuses its attention into two different aspects of catalysis. In the first part, transition-metal complexes were used as homogeneous catalysts for the preparation nitrogen-containing heterocycles (especially indoles) using liquid sources of carbon monoxide. In the second part, in collaboration with Prof. Matthias Beller (Leibniz Institute for Catalysis-LIKAT, Rostock), doped-carbon heterogeneous non-noble metal catalysts were employed as catalytic materials in the hydrogenation of nitroaromatics. In both cases, nitro compounds were used as valuable starting materials corroborating their central role in organic chemistry. Equally, mechanistic aspects (especially kinetics) were taken into account showing how they can play a pivotal role in understanding not only the specific reaction mechanism but also how a catalytic system can be further improved.