Regio- and chemoselective catalytic transfer hydrogenation of aromatic nitro and carbonyl as well as reductive cleavage of azo compounds over novel mesoporous NiMCM-41 molecular sieves.

[reaction: see text] [corrected] Regio- and chemoselective reduction of nitroarenes and carbonyl compounds and reductive cleavage of azo compounds, including bulkier molecules, was achieved by the catalytic transfer hydrogenation method (CTH) using a novel nickel-containing mesoporous silicate (NiMCM-41) molecular sieve catalyst. In addition, the catalyst was also found to behave as a truly heterogeneous catalyst as the yield was practically unaffected.