Palladium nanoparticles supported on reduced graphene oxide (Pd@rGO): an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for Suzuki–Miyaura, Heck–Matsuda and Double Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reactions

Abstract

In the present work, we have developed a reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-supported palladium nanoparticle (Pd NP)-based nanocatalyst that can smoothly promote Suzuki–Miyaura and Heck–Matsuda coupling reactions from diazoarenes under base- and ligand-free conditions with low palladium loadings (ppm level). The as-synthesized catalyst (Pd@rGO) was comprehensively characterized by TEM, EDX, FT-IR, PXRD, TGA, ICP-OES and RAMAN analysis. Interestingly, the catalyst was also found to be effective in chemoselective double Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reaction for the synthesis of various terphenyl derivatives in one-pot operation. The catalytic application of Pd@rGO was also extended to prepare Boscalid, a well-known fungicide. Additionally, the catalyst could be reused six times without much loss of activity.