Easily prepared water soluble Pd-NHC complex as an efficient, phosphine-free palladium catalyst for the Sonogashira reaction

A water soluble Pd-NHC complex was prepared and its catalytic activity in the Sonogashira reaction of terminal alkynes and aryl iodides using water as solvent under phosphine-free conditions was shown. This gives an efficient approach to diarylalkynes. The water soluble Pd-NHC complex can be easily recovered by extraction of the reaction solution and it was reused four times with only a slight loss of catalytic activity.

Graphical AbstractA water soluble Pd-NHC complex was prepared and its catalytic activity in the Sonogashira reaction of terminal alkynes and aryl iodides using water as solvent under phosphine-free conditions was shown. This gives an efficient approach to diarylalkynes. The water soluble Pd-NHC complex can be easily recovered by extraction of the reaction solution and it was reused four times with only a slight loss of catalytic activity.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide