Rational design of galactopyranoside-substituted N-heterocyclic carbene palladium(ii) complexes. Stable and efficient catalyst for C-C coupling in aqueous media

Following a rational design, three novel palladium(ii) complexes bearing galactopyranoside-based N-heterocyclic carbene ligands have been synthesized via transmetalation of the corresponding Ag(i) complexes. Palladium(ii) complexes have been characterized by NMR, FT-IR and elemental analysis. Catalytic studies, using the Stille and Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions as model C-C coupling, reveal that the complexes are active and reusable. The best results in terms of TON values were achieved in aqueous medium using either the in situ deacetylation of the catalyst or the previously deacetylated catalyst. The catalytic condition using in situ deacetylation was more efficient because it avoids an additional deprotection step.