One-pot selective N-formylation of nitroarenes to formamides catalyzed by core-shell structured cobalt nanoparticles.

One-pot direct N-formylation of readily available nitroarenes with ammonium formate catalyzed by core-shell structured cobalt nanoparticles has been developed. A broad set of nitroarenes was successfully converted to their corresponding formamides in good to high yields with various functional group tolerance. This heterogeneous catalyst can be easily removed from the reaction medium and can be reused several times without a significant loss of reaction efficiency.