Crystalline mesoporous γ-Al2O3 supported palladium: Novel and efficient catalyst for Suzuki–Miyaura reaction under controlled microwave heating

•Mesoporous γ-Al2O3 was prepared under high temperature hydrothermal conditions.•Suzuki reaction was catalyzed by mesoporous γ-Al2O3 supported Pd(OAc)2.•The catalyst shows superior catalytic activities and good recyclability.•A variety of biaryls were synthesized under microwave heating.

Crystalline mesoporous γ-Al2O3 has been successfully synthesized under high temperature hydrothermal conditions and used as an excellent support for Pd(OAc)2. The resulting γ-Al2O3–Pd showed excellent catalytic activity for Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reaction. As low as 0.2 mol% loading of Pd was needed to obtain cross-coupling products in good to excellent yields in aqueous DMF under microwave irradiation. Moreover, the novel catalyst can be easily recovered by filtration and reused without any diminishing observable activity after five runs.

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