Nanoparticles of palladium supported on bacterial biomass: New re-usable heterogeneous catalyst with comparable activity to homogeneous colloidal Pd in the Heck reaction

- We show an effective new biogenic Pd catalyst for the Heck reaction.
- BioPd performs comparably to heterogeneous and colloidal Pd catalysts.
- BioPd is simply recovered and re-used without attrition.
- BioPd nanoparticles are stabilised against agglomeration.
- BioPd can be made from waste bacteria and from waste precious metals.