An amino poly (styrene-co-maleic anhydride) polymer (ASMA) encapsulated γ-Al 2 O 3 pellet material has been synthesized successfully. After loading with Pd species and modified with morpholine, the inorganic-organic hybrid material shows an excellent catalytic property in the selective hydrogenation of p-chloronitrobenzene (p-CNB) to p-chloroaniline (p-CAN). In this procedure, morpholine can connect with the polymer layer in a form of amide bond and acts as an unparalleled immobilized

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... tion inhibitor, which can avoid further dechlorination efficiently and keeps stability due to the repulsive effect from the surviving C-O-C bond. The catalyst as prepared was characterized by using XRD, TGA, SEM, TEM, FT-IR, and ICP-OES, and it was further tested in the selective hydrogenation of p-CNB. It shows a supreme catalytic activity (almost 100%) and selectivity (up to 99.51%) after recycling for even 10 times, much superior to the blank alumina supported palladium (47.09%). Catalysts 2017, 7, 292 2 of 14 electron-donating compound such as morpholine as an inhibitor [4] . On the other hand, the high cost of noble metals may reduce the large-scale application of this technology. In recent years, nano-materials have been broadly investigated in catalysis [13] . Among these new materials, nanoparticle palladium catalysts have a larger specific surface area, and they have a stronger adsorption capacity than metal Pd bulk in catalytic hydrogenation. This advantage can effectively improve the adsorption and conversion of reactants [14] . Nevertheless, under the single-component palladium catalyst, the selectivity of halogenated aromatic amines is unsatisfactory because of the unavoidable dehalogenation [15] . Therefore, the palladium metal catalyst needs to be treated with different strategies such as the addition of a second co-catalyst additive [16, 17] , being immobilized on metal oxide support [16] or polymers, which can affect the inhibition of dehalogenation [18, 19] .