Cyclodextrin‐Grafted Silica‐Supported Pd Nanoparticles: An Efficient and Versatile Catalyst for Ligand‐Free C−C Coupling and Hydrogenation

Silica is an extremely versatile support, which is capable of hosting metal nanoparticles (NPs) and enhancing their stability and reactivity. In this study, a novel cyclodextrin/silica support for Pd NPs, which we have denoted Pd/Si-CD, has been prepared. The highly efficient and homogeneous impregnation of small palladium nanoparticles on this support has been carried out under conventional conditions, and ultrasound irradiation has been shown to have a beneficial effect on catalyst preparation. The catalyst exhibited excellent activity in ligand-free C−C Suzuki and Heck couplings with a large number of aryl iodide and bromides, in which microwave irradiation use cuts down reaction time. Pd/Si-CD have shown high activity and selectivity in the hydrogenation reaction, and the semihydrogenation of phenyl acetylene was also studied with excellent results.