A phosphine-free heterogeneous formylation of aryl halides catalyzed by a thioether-functionalized MCM-41-immobilized palladium complex

•The MCM-41-S-PdCl2 complex could be easily prepared by a simple procedure.•This Pd complex was first used to catalyze formylation of aryl halides with CO.•It exhibited high activity for formylation of aryl halides with HCO2Na under CO.•This palladium catalyst can be reused 10 times without any decrease in activity.

Thioether-functionalized MCM-41-immobilized palladium(II) complex [MCM-41-S-PdCl2] was found to be a highly efficient catalyst for the formylation of aryl iodides or bromides with CO (1 atm) using HCO2Na as a hydrogen source. This phosphine-free heterogeneous palladium complex can be easily recovered by simple filtration and reused for at least 10 consecutive trials without any decreases in activity.