Palladium immobilized in the nanocages of SBA-16: An efficient and recyclable catalyst for Suzuki coupling reaction

A novel solid catalyst for coupling reaction has been successfully prepared by immobilizing palladium in the nanocages of the ethylenediamine-functionalized mesoporous material SBA-16. The structure and composition of the solid catalyst were characterized by N2 adsorption–desorption, XRD, TEM, FT-IR and TGA. These results revealed that Pd(II) was successfully embedded inside the nanocages of SBA-16. This catalyst afforded high activity (over 91% conversion) for the Suzuki coupling of various aryl bromides and phenyiboronic acids in ethanol solvent at 60 °C even at the loading of 0.5 mol% Pd. Moreover, the SBA-16-2 N-Pd(II) catalyst could be separated easily from reaction mixture and reused for ten times without obvious loss of catalytic activity, showing the superiority over the homogeneous catalysts in industrial applications.

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► The regular pores in SBA-16 material can be used as nanoreactors.
► Functionalized SBA-16 was found highly active towards Suzuki reaction.
► A new Pd(II) bounded ethylenediamine-functionalized SBA-16 catalyst has been synthesized.
► The catalyst afforded the higher activity for the coupling of chloroarenes in mild conditions.
► The catalyst could be reused ten times without significant loss in activity.