Platinum nanoparticle catalysed coupling of phenol derivatives with 4-aminoantipyrine in aqueous medium

The oxidative coupling of phenols with 4-aminoantipyrine (AmNH₂) has been studied by UV–visible spectroscopy using platinum nanoparticles as catalyst. The rate of antipyrilquinoneimine dye formation depends on the nature of substrates, temperature, pH, and the use of microheterogeneous media such as sodium dodecylsulphate (SDS), cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and Triton X-100 (TX-100). The reactivity trend observed for differently substituted phenols follows the order: 3,5-dimethylphenol > phenol > o-chlorophenol > o-nitrophenol. The rate of dye formation is greater at acid pH than at basic pH and the optimum pH is 5.4. A reaction pathway is proposed, involving the activation of o-chlorophenol with AmNH₂ by metal nanoparticles and concomitant reactions of free radicals. Transmission electron microscopy results show that the particle size is 20 nm for the platinum nanoparticles involved in catalysis. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.