Palladium nanoparticles immobilized on the magnetic few layer graphene support as a highly efficient catalyst for ligand free Suzuki cross coupling and homo coupling reactions

In this study, we prepared a magnetic metal-graphene nanocomposite for the synthesis of substituted biaryls via Suzuki cross coupling and homo coupling reaction of aryl halides. The magnetic few layer graphene composite was synthesized by using one-step electrochemical exfoliation of graphite foil in aqueous iron (II) ammonium sulfate as electrolyte without using of any additive or corrosive media. Then, Fe2O3@FLG composite was used an efficient support for the immobilization and suitable dispersing of palladium nanoparticles. The obtained Fe2O3@FLG@Pd-0 nanocomposite was characterized using FT-IR, SEM, TEM, EDS, XRD, VSM and ICP-AES analysis. Very low loading of this catalyst was displayed high activity in the producing substituted biaryls. It simply recovered from the reaction mixture and reused without any pre-activation in six consecutive runs with no loss of its catalytic activity or the observation of any detectable palladium leaching process. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.