Agglomeration of Pd0 nanoparticles causing different catalytic activities of Suzuki carbonylative cross-coupling reactions catalyzed by PdII and Pd0 immobilized on dopamine-functionalized magnetite nanoparticles

Solvent-dispersible magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4) end-functionalized with amino groups were successfully prepared by a facile one-pot template-free method to immobilize PdII and Pd0 using a metal adsorption and reduction procedure. They were characterized by TEM, XRD, XPS, FT-IR and VSM. Interestingly, the PdII catalyst exhibited better catalytic activity for carbonylative cross-coupling reactions than the Pd0 catalyst. According to the catalytic activities of a variety of arylboronic acids and aryl iodides catalyzed by two kinds of Pd catalysts, the proposed reaction mechanism of Suzuki carbonylative cross-coupling reactions using the Pd catalyst was also inferred. More importantly, agglomeration of Pd0 nanoparticles was obviously observed in the TEM images of the catalysts after reactions. Therefore, agglomeration of Pd0 nanoparticles should be considered as a significant reason for different catalytic activities of the reactions catalyzed by immobilized PdII and Pd0 catalysts. Furthermore, the PdII catalyst revealed high efficiency and stability during recycling stages.