“Click” Dendrimer-Stabilized Palladium Nanoparticles as a Green Catalyst Down to Parts per Million for Efficient CC Cross-Coupling Reactions and Reduction of 4-Nitrophenol

Trace amounts of palladium catalysed the Suzuki-Miyaura reaction of deactivated and hindered aryl chlorides

Electron-rich and hindered aryl chlorides are the most challenging substrates in Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling (SMC) reactions. Herein, we report a highly efficient catalytic system for the SMC reaction using trace amounts of commercially available catalysts [Pd(PPh3)4/(t-Bu)PCy2; Pd loading as low as 9.5 × 10-5 mol%]. This catalytic system can efficiently couple deactivated and sterically hindered aryl chlorides with various substituted phenylboronic acids, even in one-pot multiple coupling reactions (yield of products up to 92%). The impact of solvents on SMC reactions and the mechanisms of by-product formation in aryl boronic acid couplings are analyzed using density functional theory (DFT). Utilizing trace amounts of commercially available catalysts avoids complex synthesis, reduces costs, and minimizes metal residues.

Carbonized cellulose microspheres loaded with Pd NPs as catalyst in p-nitrophenol reduction and Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction

Catalytic reduction of p-nitrophenol is usually carried out using transition metal nanoparticles such as gold, palladium, silver, and copper, especially palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs), which are characterized by fast reaction rate, high turnover frequency, good selectivity, and high yield. However, the aggregation and precipitation of the metals lead to the decomposition of the catalyst, which results in a significant reduction of the catalytic activity. Therefore, the preparation of homogeneous stabilized palladium nanoparticles catalysts has been widely studied. Stabilized palladium nanoparticles mainly use synthetic polymers. Cellulose microspheres, as a natural polymer material with low-cost and porous fiber network structure, are excellent carriers for stabilizing metal nanoparticles. Cellulose microspheres impregnated with palladium metal nanoparticles were carbonized to have a larger specific surface area and highly dispersed palladium nanoparticles, which exhibited excellent catalytic activity in the catalytic reduction of p-nitrophenol. In this work, the cellulose carbon-based microspheres palladium (Pd@CCM) catalysts were designed and characterized by SEM, TEM, EDS, XRD, FTIR, XPS, TGA, BET, and so on. Furthermore, the catalytic performance of Pd@CCM catalysts was investigated via p-nitrophenol reduction, which showed high catalytic activity. This catalyst also exhibited excellent catalytic performance in the Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction. Linking aromatic monomer and benzene through Suzuki-Miyaura coupling was presented as an effective route to obtaining biaryls, and the synthesis method is low-cost and simple. In addition, Pd@CCM showed desirable recyclability while maintaining its catalytic activity even after five recycles. This work is highly suggestive of the design and application of the heterogeneous catalyst.

From sandwich complexes to dendrimers: journey toward applications to sensing, molecular electronics, materials science, and biomedicine

This review links various areas of inorganic chemistry around the themes developed by our research group during the last four decades. It is firstly based on the electronic structure of iron sandwich complexes, showing how the metal electron count dictates their reactivities, with various applications (via C-H activation, C-C bond formation) as reducing and oxidizing agents, redox and electrocatalysts and precursors of dendrimers and catalyst templates through bursting reactions. Various electron-transfer processes and consequences are explored, including the influence of the redox state on the acidity of robust ligands and the possibility to iterate in situ C-H activation and C-C bond formation to build arene-cored dendrimers. Examples of how these dendrimers are functionalized are illustrated using the cross olefin metathesis reactions, with application to the synthesis of soft nanomaterials and biomaterials. Mixed and average valence complexes give rise to remarkable subsequent organometallic reactions, including the salt influence on these reactions. The stereo-electronic aspect of these mixed valencies is pointed out in star-shaped multi-ferrocenes with a frustration effect and other multi-organoiron systems, with the perspective of understanding electron-transfer processes among dendrimer redox sites involving electrostatic effects and application to redox sensing and polymer metallocene batteries. Dendritic redox sensing is summarized for biologically relevant anions such as ATP^2- with supramolecular exoreceptor interactions at the dendrimer periphery in parallel with the seminal work on metallocene-derived endoreceptors by Beer's group. This aspect includes the design of the first metallodendrimers that have applications in both redox sensing and micellar catalysis with nanoparticles. These properties provide the opportunity to summarize the biomedical (mostly anticancer) applications of ferrocenes, dendrimers and dendritic ferrocenes in biomedicine (in particular the contribution from our group, but not only). Finally, the use of dendrimers as templates for catalysis is illustrated with numerous reactions including C-C bond formation, click reactions and H₂ production reactions.

Designing Sites in Heterogeneous Catalysis: Are We Reaching Selectivities Competitive With Those of Homogeneous Catalysts?

A critical review of different prominent nanotechnologies adapted to catalysis is provided, with focus on how they contribute to the improvement of selectivity in heterogeneous catalysis. Ways to modify catalytic sites range from the use of the reversible or irreversible adsorption of molecular modifiers to the immobilization or tethering of homogeneous catalysts and the development of well-defined catalytic sites on solid surfaces. The latter covers methods for the dispersion of single-atom sites within solid supports as well as the use of complex nanostructures, and it includes the post-modification of materials via processes such as silylation and atomic layer deposition. All these methodologies exhibit both advantages and limitations, but all offer new avenues for the design of catalysts for specific applications. Because of the high cost of most nanotechnologies and the fact that the resulting materials may exhibit limited thermal or chemical stability, they may be best aimed at improving the selective synthesis of high value-added chemicals, to be incorporated in organic synthesis schemes, but other applications are being explored as well to address problems in energy production, for instance, and to design greener chemical processes. The details of each of these approaches are discussed, and representative examples are provided. We conclude with some general remarks on the future of this field.

Magnetically Recoverable Nanoparticulate Catalysts for Cross-Coupling Reactions: The Dendritic Support Influences the Catalytic Performance

Carbon-carbon cross-coupling reactions are among the most important synthetic tools for the preparation of pharmaceuticals and bioactive compounds. However, these reactions are normally carried out using copper, phosphines, and/or amines, which are poisonous for pharmaceuticals. The use of nanocomposite catalysts holds promise for facilitating these reactions and making them more environmentally friendly. In the present work, the PEGylated (PEG stands for poly(ethylene glycol) pyridylphenylene dendrons immobilized on silica loaded with magnetic nanoparticles have been successfully employed for the stabilization of Pd2+ complexes and Pd nanoparticles. The catalyst developed showed excellent catalytic activity in copper-free Sonogashira and Heck cross-coupling reactions. The reactions proceeded smoothly in green solvents at low palladium loading, resulting in high yields of cross-coupling products (from 80% to 97%) within short reaction times. The presence of magnetic nanoparticles allows easy magnetic separation for repeated use without a noticeable decrease of catalytic activity due to the strong stabilization of Pd species by rigid and bulky dendritic ligands. The PEG dendron periphery makes the catalyst hydrophilic and better suited for green solvents. The minor drop in activity upon the catalyst reuse is explained by the formation of Pd nanoparticles from the Pd2+ species during the catalytic reaction. The magnetic separation and reuse of the nanocomposite catalyst reduces the cost of target products as well as energy and material consumption and diminishes residual contamination by the catalyst. These factors as well as the absence of copper in the catalyst makeup pave the way for future applications of such catalysts in cross-coupling reactions.

A Waste-Minimized Approach to Cassar-Heck Reaction Based on POLITAG-Pd0 Heterogeneous Catalyst and Recoverable Acetonitrile Azeotrope

Three different Pd0 -based heterogeneous catalysts were developed and tested in the Cassar-Heck reaction (i. e., copper-free Sonogashira reaction) aiming at the definition of a waste minimized protocol. The cross-linked polymeric supports used in this investigation were designed to be adequate for different reaction media and were decorated with different pincer-type ionic ligands having the role of stabilizing the formation and dimension of palladium nanoparticles. Among the ionic tags tested, bis-imidazolium showed the best performances in terms of efficiency and durability of the metal catalytic system. Eventually, aqueous acetonitrile azeotrope was selected as the reaction medium as it allowed the best catalytic efficiency combined with easy recovery and reuse. Finally, the synergy between the selected catalyst and reaction medium allowed to obtain highly satisfactory isolated yields of a variety of substrates while using a low amount of metal catalyst. The high performance of the designed POLymeric Ionic TAG (POLITAG)-Pd0 , along with its good selectivity achieved in a copper-free process, also led to a simplified purification procedure allowing the minimization of the waste generated as also proven by the very low E-factor values (1.4-5) associated.

Polyethyleneimine-Oleic Acid Micelles-Stabilized Palladium Nanoparticles as Highly Efficient Catalyst to Treat Pollutants with Enhanced Performance

Water soluble organic molecular pollution endangers human life and health. It becomes necessary to develop highly stable noble metal nanoparticles without aggregation in solution to improve their catalytic performance in treating pollution. Polyethyleneimine (PEI)-based stable micelles have the potential to stabilize noble metal nanoparticles due to the positive charge of PEI. In this study, we synthesized the amphiphilic PEI-oleic acid molecule by acylation reaction. Amphiphilic PEI-oleic acid assembled into stable PEI-oleic acid micelles with a hydrodynamic diameter of about 196 nm and a zeta potential of about 34 mV. The PEI-oleic acid micelles-stabilized palladium nanoparticles (PO-PdNPs_n) were prepared by the reduction of sodium tetrachloropalladate using NaBH₄ and the palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs) were anchored in the hydrophilic layer of the micelles. The prepared PO-PdNPs_n had a small size for PdNPs and good stability in solution. Noteworthily, PO-PdNPs₁₅₀ had the highest catalytic activity in reducing 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) (K_nor = 18.53 s⁻¹mM⁻¹) and oxidizing morin (K_nor = 143.57 s⁻¹M⁻¹) in aqueous solution than other previous catalysts. The enhanced property was attributed to the improving the stability of PdNPs by PEI-oleic acid micelles. The method described in this report has great potential to prepare many kinds of stable noble metal nanoparticles for treating aqueous pollution.

Catalyst shuttling enabled by a thermoresponsive polymeric ligand: facilitating efficient cross-couplings with continuously recyclable ppm levels of palladium

A polymeric monophosphine ligand WePhos has been synthesized and complexed with palladium(ii) acetate [Pd(OAc)2] to generate a thermoresponsive pre-catalyst that can shuttle between water and organic phases, with the change being regulated by temperature. The structure of the polymeric ligand was confirmed with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry and size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) analysis, as well as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements. This polymeric metal complex enables highly efficient Pd-catalyzed cross-couplings and tandem reactions using 50 to 500 ppm palladium, and this can facilitate reactions that are tolerant to a broad spectrum of (hetero)aryl substrates and functional groups, as demonstrated with 73 examples with up to 99% isolated yields. Notably, 97% Pd remained in the aqueous phase after 10 runs of catalyst recycling experiments, as determined via inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) measurements, indicating highly efficient catalyst transfer. Furthermore, a continuous catalyst recycling approach has been successfully developed based on flow chemistry in combination with the catalyst shuttling behavior, allowing Suzuki-Miyaura couplings to be conducted at gram-scales with as little as 10 ppm Pd loading. Given the significance of transition-metal catalyzed cross-coupling and increasing interest in sustainable chemistry, this work is an important step towards the development of a responsive catalyst, in addition to having high activity, by tuning the structures of the ligands using polymer science.

Synthetic strategies and application of gold-based nanocatalysts for nitroaromatics reduction

With the increasing requirement of efficient organic transformations on the basic concept of Green Sustainable Chemistry, the development of highly efficient catalytic reaction system is greatly desired. In this case, gold (Au)-based nanocatalysts are promising candidates for catalytic reaction, especially for the reduction of nitroaromatics. They have attracted wide attention and well developed in the application of nitroaromatics reduction because of the unique properties compared with that of other conventional metal-based catalysts. With this respect, this review proposes recent trends in the application of Au nanocatalysts for efficient reduction process of nitroaromatics. Some typical approaches are compared and discussed to guide the synthesis of highly efficient Au nanocatalysts. The mechanism on the use of H₂ and NaBH₄ solution as the source of hydrogen is compared, and that proposed under light irradiation is discussed. The high and unique catalytic activity of some carriers, such as oxides and carbons-based materials, based on different sizes, structures, and shapes of supported Au nanocatalysts for nitroaromatics reduction are described. The catalytic performance of Au combining with other metal nanoparticles by alloy or doping, like multi-metal nanoparticles system, is further discussed. Finally, a short discussion is introduced to compare the catalysis with other metallic nanocatalysts.

Ferrocenyl metal–organic framework hollow microspheres for in situ loading palladium nanoparticles as a heterogeneous catalyst

Zn–Fc MOF hollow microspheres were prepared for the in situ reduction of Pd²⁺ into Pd nanoparticles as a highly efficient heterogeneous catalyst.

Applications of SBA-15 supported Pd metal catalysts as nanoreactors in C-C coupling reactions

Nanoreactors are material structures with engineered internal cavities which create exclusive confined nanoscale surroundings for chemical reactions. The cavities of mesoporous silica SBA-15 can be used as nanoreactors for incorporating catalytic species such as metal nanoparticles, complexes etc. Since SBA-15 silica has a neutral framework, organic functional groups and heteroatoms have been embedded by direct or post-synthesis approaches in order to modify their functionality. Palladium is the most used transition metal for C-C bond formations. Because of the great importance of C-C coupling reactions, this review article aims at providing a deep insight into the state of art in the field of the synthesis and the application of mesoporous SBA-15 silica-supported Pd catalysts in C-C coupling transformations. In most cases, synthesis and modification of the catalyst, time and yield of reactions, recyclability and leaching of the Pd species from the SBA-15 support are discussed to reveal the role of SBA-15 in C-C coupling reactions.

Facile Synthesis of Magnetically Recoverable Pd and Ru Catalysts for 4-Nitrophenol Reduction: Identifying Key Factors

This paper reports the development of robust Pd- and Ru-containing magnetically recoverable catalysts in a one-pot procedure using commercially available, branched polyethyleneimine (PEI) as capping and reducing agent. For both catalytic metals, ∼3 nm nanoparticles (NPs) are stabilized in the PEI shell of magnetite NPs, whose aggregation allows for prompt magnetic separation. The catalyst properties were studied in a model reaction of 4-nitrophenol hydrogenation to 4-aminophenol with NaBH4. A similar catalytic NP size allowed us to decouple the NP size impact on the catalytic performance from other parameters and to follow the influence of the catalytic metal type and amount as well as the PEI amount on the catalytic activity. The best catalytic performances, the 1.2 min-1 rate constant and the 433.2 min-1 turnover frequency, are obtained for the Ru-containing catalyst. This is discussed in terms of stability of Ru hydride facilitating the surface-hydrogen transfer and the presence of Ru4+ species on the Ru NP surface facilitating the nitro group adsorption, both leading to an increased catalyst efficiency. High catalytic activity as well as the high stability of the catalyst performance in five consecutive catalytic cycles after magnetic separation makes this catalyst promising for nitroarene hydrogenation reactions.

Plasmonic Au-Loaded Hierarchical Hollow Porous TiO2 Spheres: Synergistic Catalysts for Nitroaromatic Reduction

Plasmonic Au nanoparticle (NP)-loaded hierarchical hollow porous TiO₂ spheres are designed and synthesized with the purpose of enhancing the overall catalytic activity by introducing the Au plasmonic effect into the system, where Au NPs themselves are catalytically active. The constructed nanohybrid exhibits both high activity in 4-nitrophenol reduction, compared to all of the previously reported Au-based catalysts, and high selectivity. The synergy of the inherent catalytic property of Au NPs and the plasmonic effect (mainly via hot electron transfer) under irradiation is confirmed by a series of control experiments. The specifically designed, porous hollow structure also greatly contributes to the good catalytic activity because it provides a large surface area, facilitates reactant adsorption, and hinders charge recombination. In addition, theoretical calculations reveal that such a structure also leads to an increase in light absorption of about 21% in the range of 400-800 nm with respect to a uniform water-TiO₂ background featuring the same filling factor. This work provides insight into the rational design of plasmon-enhanced catalysts that will show their versatility in various electro-/photocatalysis.

Magnetic dendritic polymer nanocomposites as supports for palladium: a highly efficient and reusable catalyst for Mizoroki–Heck and Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reactions

A novel catalyst Fe₃O₄@SiO₂-Dendrimer-Pd based on palladium immobilized on magnetic dendritic polymer nanocomposites was successfully synthesized and characterized by FT-IR, EA, XRD, TEM, EDX, VSM and XPS.

An active catalytic system for Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions using low levels of palladium loading

An easily available Pd(OAc)₂/(2-(anthracen-9-yl)-1H-inden-3-yl) dicyclohexylphosphine/toluene/ⁱPrOH/water catalytic system was developed, which shows high catalytic activity in the Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions of a diverse array of aryl and heteroaryl chlorides with Pd loadings down to 0.01 mol%.

One-step catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol through the direct injection of metal salts into oxygen-depleted reactants

The one-step catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol using nanoparticles derived from the injection of metal salts leads to benchmark-setting turnover frequencies.

Current advances in the utility of functionalized SBA mesoporous silica for developing encapsulated nanocatalysts: state of the art

The cavities of SBA mesoporous silica materials can be used as nanoreactors for embedding catalytic species such as nanoparticles, complexes and heteropolyacids etc.

Palladium(ii) complexes of N,N-diphenylacetamide based thio/selenoethers and flower shaped Pd16S7and prismatic Pd17Se15nano-particles tailored as catalysts for C–C and C–O coupling

Pd₁₆S₇/Pd₁₇Se₁₅NPs of shapes unknown hitherto and their Pd precursors (0.0001 mol%) are efficient/reusable catalysts for Suzuki–Miyaura/C–O coupling.

Prevention of aerobic oxidation of copper nanoparticles by anti-galvanic alloying: gold versus silver

Alloying CuNPs with AuNPs or AgNPs followed by exposure to air only leads to Cu(0) oxidation to Cu(i) in AgCu alloyed NPs, whereas Cu(0) is not oxidized in AuCu alloyed NPs in which Au(i) forms.