In the presence of molecular oxygen and a catalytic amount of tris (pentane-2, 4-dionato) iron (III), non-activated and moderately activated arenes, which include alkylbenzenes, halogenobenzenes, phenolic ethers, naphthalene and derivatives, can be nitrated with nitrogen dioxide at ice-bath temperature or below to give the corresponding nitro derivatives in fair to good yields. An electron-transfer mechanism has been proposed, where an ...