An easily recoverable and recyclable homogeneous polyester-based Pd catalytic system for the hydrogenation of α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds

•trans-[Pd(OAc)2(L)2] was synthesized from Pd(OAc)2 and the poly(l-lactide) (L).•trans-[Pd(OAc)2(L)2] was used as catalytic precursor in hydrogenations.•trans-[Pd(OAc)2(L)2] is a homogeneous catalytic precursor.•The homogeneous catalyst can be easily recovered from the reaction mixture.•The catalytic system maintained its activity in recycle experiments.

Homogeneous catalysis is an efficient tool to carry out hydrogenation processes but the major drawback is represented by the separation of the expensive catalyst from the product mixture. In this view we prepared a polyester-based Pd catalytic system that offers the advantages of both homogenous and heterogeneous catalyses: efficacy, selectivity and recyclability. Here its application in the hydrogenation of selected α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds is described.

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