The bimetallic catalyst Ru-Pt/ γ -Al 2O 3 was prepared by impregnating H 2PtCl 6 and RuCl 3 aqueous solution in the presence of PVP(40 000). Its catalytic performance in selective hydrogenation of \{ p -chloronitrobenzene\}( p -CNB) was studied. The results indicate that the activity of Ru-Pt/ γ -Al 2O 3[\{ n (ruthenium)\}∶ n (platinum)=4∶1] is much higher than that of Ru/ γ -Al 2O 3,while the amount of dehalogenation product(aniline) and other by-products are much fewer than that by using Pt/ γ -Al 2O 3 as the catalyst. There is synergistic effect of ruthenium and platinum in bimetallic catalyst for selective hydrogenation of p -CNB. Under the reaction conditions t =50 ℃, p H 2 = 1.0 MPa, reaction time 60 min,\{ n (substrate)∶\} n (total amount of metal content)=1000∶1,the conversion of p -CNB and the selectivity to p -chloroaniline( p -CNA) by using Ru-Pt/ γ -Al 2O 3 as the catalyst are 48.2% and 85.9%,respectively. The effect of other metal cations(introduced to the reaction system with the corresponding metal chloride solution) on the reaction was investigated. It was found that catalytic performance of Ru-Pt/ γ -Al 2O 3 could be greatly improved by modfication of some metal cations. When Co 2+ and Ni 2+ were used as modifiers for the catalyst Ru-Pt/ γ -Al 2O 3 under above mentioned reaction conditions,the conversions of p -CNB increase to 74.5% and 87.8%,as well as the selectivities of p -CAN increase to 98.9% and 99.4%,respectively. Fe 3+ and Sn 4+ were the best modifiers for Ru-Pt/ γ -Al 2O 3 under the same reaction conditions. The conversions of p -CNB and the selectivities of p -CAN can reach 100% and >99.0%,respectively. However,the catalysts can be poisoned by Zn 2+ and Sn 2+ .
