p-Nitroacetophenone → p-Aminoacetophenone

Into a 100-mL 3-necked round-bottom flask, was placed a solution of 1-(4-nitrophenyl)ethanone (6 g, 36.36 mmol, 1.00 equiv) in ethanol (100 mL), water (15 mL). This was followed by the addition of NH4Cl (3.85 g, 72.64 mmol, 2.00 equiv) in several batches. To this was added Fe (10.18 g, 181.79 mmol, 5.00 equiv) in several batches, while the temperature was maintained at reflux. The resulting mixture was heated to reflux for 2 h. The solids were filtered out and the resulting filtrate was concentrated under vacuum. The residue was diluted with 50 mL of water. The resulting solution was extracted with 3×50 mL of ethyl acetate and the organic layers combined and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate and concentrated under vacuum to give 3.1 g (60%) of 1-(4-aminophenyl)ethanone as a yellow solid.