Palladium was supported on superparamagnetic nanoparticles: A magnetically recoverable catalyst for Heck reaction

A novel and high-performance palladium-based catalyst for Heck reaction was prepared easily by the co-precipitation method. The catalyst was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). The catalyst afforded a fast conversion of the 4-bromonitrobenzene to 4-nitrostilbene at a catalyst loading of 5 mol%, and the efficiency of the catalyst remains unaltered even after 6 repeated cycles. The excellent catalytic performance of the Pd/Fe3O4 catalyst might be attributed to the enhanced synergistic effect between Pd nanoparticles and magnetite.

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► Palladium-based heterogeneous catalyst was prepared facilely via the co-precipitation method.
► The particles are nearly spherical in shape with an average size of 20 ± 1.0 nm.
► The developed magnetic catalyst showed high activity for Heck reaction.
► The catalyst was easily recovered from the reaction mixture with external magnetic field.
► The catalytic efficiency for Heck reaction remains unaltered even after 6 repeated cycles.