We have developed Cu NP dispersed on mesoporous silica (SBA-15) catalyst for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP). This catalyst can offer several advantages, such as (i) due to high surface area and porous structure of the silica support, the reactants get easy access to the active catalytic site, i.e. CuNP, (ii) growth of CuNP within the pores of SBA-15 helps to prevent agglomeration and leaching of CuNP, (iii) this supported catalyst can easily be separated from the reaction mixture at the end of the reaction by simple filtration or centrifugation. In this paper, we report the synthesis of CuNP-dispersed on aminoguanidine modified SBA-15. Initially Cu2+ ions were adsorbed on the modified pore surface of SBA-15 followed by their reduction by trisodiumcitrate. Citrate ions help to control and stabilize the size of CuNP by complexing with it. Reduction reaction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol is important because nitrophenols and their derivatives are formed during the production of pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, synthetic dyes etc. To investigate the catalytic property of the synthesized CuNP containing SBA-15 catalysts, we have studied the reduction reaction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol in the presence of excess sodium borohydride. The reaction was monitored by using a UV–Vis spectroscopy.

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