Reduction of Nitro Compounds

What are nitro compounds?      

As we already have the ‘know how’ that in organic compounds a number of special functional groups can be attached and turned into next stage compounds, in the same way, if a nitro purposeful group is attached to the organic compound, then it turns into a nitro compound.
One or many hydrogen elements from the organic compound can be replaced by nitro useful groups to turn it into a nitro compound.
These nitro compounds are basically better-known for their explosophore nature.

Now, you would be wondering what explosophore implies. In easy terms, we can describe this as something explosive.
Thus, nitro compounds are used as explosive chemical substances globally.

The foremost and most common examples of such nitro compounds acknowledged via almost all and sundry are trinitrophenol (picric acid), trinitrotoluene (TNT) and trinitroresorcinol (styphnic acid).
The motive why these compounds are used as explosives is that they are highly unstable in nature for that reason serve as an explosive medium.
Apart from possessing this explosive characteristic, these compounds are once more used in more than a few specific fields such as solvents, or chemical intermediates.
Chemical intermediate literally means that they are any substance valued as raw substances in further chemical processing.

Synthesis of Nitro Compounds        

The nitro compounds actually are in reality, of aromatic characteristics, so to commonly produce these aromatic nitro compounds first we want to literally produce nitronium ion, which in reality is an electrophile.
Now, to normally produce this electrophile considered as nitronium ion, we for all intents and purposes favour to absolutely perform an experiment referred to as the Nitration method in a delicate way.
The Nitration procedure honestly is specially carried through the mixture of Nitric acid and Sulphuric acid, so at the time of mixing these two acids we obtain the nitronium ion through the manner of Nitration.
The most necessary product fashioned by nitration is a clearly aromatic nitro compound used globally in rather giant scale (commercially) as a sort of explosive.

Reduction of Nitro Compounds            

As seen, a range of experiments are constantly taking place in the discipline of chemistry, one such lookup on reduction process took vicinity, long time back.
And the first purposeful functional group that used to be ever reduced is recognised as a nitro group.
Scientists take a deep interest in this compound’s reduction in organic chemistry. Many reagents take sections in this system that alternatively have an effect on the conversion.
There are surely two exceptional classes of nitro compounds referred to as:-
1. alkyl nitro compound and
2. aryl nitro group
Both behave in a different way from each other, however the beneficial reduction that entertains the most to the scientist is the reduction of aryl nitro group.

Let’s have a look at the synthesis of amines by the reduction of nitro compounds. 

For starters, the nitro group is reduced to the nitroso group.

R-NO2 → R-NH2

The first step would be accompanied by using the reductive addition of two hydrogen atoms and this will end result in the formation of the hydroxylamine.

The terminating step is again a reduction; water is eradicated and the amine is isolated.

The reduction of nitro groups with metals in acidic solution can’t be stopped at either the nitroso- or hydroxylamine stage. 

The ultimate product is the amine, removed as salt of the acid used. 

And in this way the synthesis of Amines takes place or we can also say that the reduction of nitro compounds happens through this process. 

Conclusion      

Nitro compounds constitute organic compounds in which the hydrogen is literally substituted by the nitro group turning the species into something explosive. It’s reduction was the first to take place in the field of the reduction chemistry and scientists take a special interest in the reduction of aryl nitro group as of their advantages.