Water-Dispersible Pd–N-Heterocyclic Carbene Complex Immobilized on Magnetic Nanoparticles as a New Heterogeneous Catalyst for Fluoride-Free Hiyama, Suzuki–Miyaura and Cyanation Reactions in Aqueous Media

Pd–N-heterocyclic carbine complex immobilized on magnetic nanoparticles is synthesized and characterized by different techniques such as FT-IR, XPS, TEM, EDX, FESEM, VSM, TGA, and ICP. The synthesized catalyst was used as a new water dispersible heterogeneous catalyst in the fluoride-free Hiyama, Suzuki–Miyaura and cyanation reactions in pure water. By this method, different types of biaryls and aryl nitriles were synthesized in good to high yields by the reaction of a variety of aryl iodides, bromides and chlorides with triethoxyphenylsilane, phenylboronic acid and K4[Fe(CN)6]·3H2O, respectively. The presence of sulfonates as hydrophilic groups on the surface of the catalyst confers a highly water dispersible, active and yet magnetically recoverable Pd catalyst. The possibility to perform the reaction in water as a green medium, ease of the catalyst recovery and reuse by magnetic separation, and the absence of any additives or co-solvents make this method as an eco-friendly and economical protocol for the synthesis of biaryl derivatives and aryl nitriles.We acknowledge the financial support for this research by the University of Birjand Research Council and also access to the XPS facilities of the Central Technical Services of the University of Alicante