Strong Electrostatic Adsorption (SEA) is used to synthesize ultra-small bimetallic nanoparticle catalysts Cu-Pd, Ni-Pd and Co-Pd supported on commercially available fumed silica. The bimetallic catalysts demonstrate high catalytic activity for the Suzuki cross coupling reaction between bromobenzene and phenyl boronic acid to form biphenyl in an environmentally friendly solvent system at room temperature. The activity pattern using 0.3 mol% catalyst loading follows the order: Cu-Pd &gt; Ni-Pd &gt; Co-Pd ≥ Pd. Under similar reaction conditions, the monometallic Cu, Ni and Co catalysts are inactive in the Suzuki coupling reaction. The bimetallic catalysts demonstrate excellent activity resulting in a 100% conversion to the biphenyl product within 5 min under microwave reaction conditions at 60 oC. The high activity is attributed to the ultra-small bimetallic nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction does not show any diffraction peaks for any of the metals, consistent with the ultra-small particle size. HRTEM and STEM images confirm the presence of ~1-2 nm bimetallic nanoparticles with a narrow particle size distribution (average particle size is ~ 1.12 nm ± 0.12 nm). The catalytic activity remains very high at a very low catalyst loading (0.003 mole %) resulting in a remarkable turnover frequency of 280,000 h-1 under microwave reaction conditions at 60 oC. The high activity of the Cu-Pd catalyst is maintained at a 100% conversion within 5 min even after seven recycling runs under microwave reaction conditions at 60 oC.

Ultra-small bimetallic catalysts synthesized by strong electrostatic adsorption for Suzuki cross coupling reactions

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.