Silica supported palladium phosphine as a robust and recyclable catalyst for semi-hydrogenation of alkynes using syngas

•A highly selective, heterogeneous palladium-catalyzed semi-hydrogenation of alkynes using syngas has been developed.•The various alkynes were reduced to alkenes in good to excellent yields.•Recovery of catalyst by simple filtration and its reuse up to four consecutive cycles.•The catalyst was characterized by FEG-SEM, EDS, XPS, ICP-AES analysis techniques.

This work reports a chemo-selective semi-hydrogenation of alkynes to alkenes using silica supported palladium phosphine catalyst with syngas (CO/H2). This developed methodology is an alternative to classical Lindlar catalyst for chemo-selective semi-hydrogenation of alkynes to alkenes. Various alkynes were smoothly convert to alkenes in 60–97% conversion with 85–98% selectivity. The prepared catalyst was well characterized by Field Emmission Gun Scanning Electron Microscopy (FEG-SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Inductively Coupled Plasma- Atomic Emmission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) analysis techniques. In addition, catalyst was effectively recycled up to four consecutive run without significant loss in its catalytic activity and selectivity.

Graphical abstractThis work reports a chemo-selective semi-hydrogenation of alkynes to olefins has been achieved using syngas (CO/H2). Alkynes were reduced to alkenes in high yield using novel silica supported palladium phosphine catalyst which is an alternative to classical Lindlar catalyst. The catalyst was characterized by XPS, FEG-SEM, EDS, ICP-AES analysis.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (207 K)Download as PowerPoint slide