Nowadays, nanotechnology has attracted attention in different field such as therapeutics, food and nutraceuticals, biology and medicine, biotechnology, fabrics, textiles and environmental applications and so on [1,2]. In the present study, a novel heterogeneous nano-catalyst was synthesized by sulfonating natural asphalt as a high-carbon, cost-effective and accessible substrate using a high-concentration sulfuric acid. Ultimately, the nanocatalyst was synthesized through a reaction of natural asphalt sulfonate with ZnCl2. Catalytic activity of this catalyst was investigated in the synthesis of aniline derivatives. The series of nitroarenes containing a variety of functional groups were reduced to their corresponding products. (Scheme 1). The prepared catalyst was characterized by FT-IR, XRD, EDS, ICP, SEM, EDX and BET analysis.
