Catalysis Letters, Vol.147, No.10, 2619-2629, 2017
Pd/AlO(OH): A Heterogeneous, Stable and Recyclable Catalyst for N-Arylation of Aniline Under Ligand-Free Aerobic Condition
Many synthetic methods have been reported to construct an aryl-nitrogen bond. But they mainly suffer from the usage of expensive ligands. Herein, we report highly effective, heterogeneous, reusable and ligand-free nanocatalyst for the Buchwald-Hartwig coupling reaction under aerobic condition. Wafer-like structure with nano-porous nature of AlO(OH) was identified with TEM and BET surface area analyses. Zero valent Pd nanoparticles (with less than 10 nm crystallite size which strongly evident from TEM analysis) were observed in XRD pattern, which was further confirmed by XPS studies. The reaction conditions were optimized and the scope of the reaction was extended with various aryl halides and aniline using low amount of Pd (0.31 mol%) based heterogeneous catalyst. Heterogeneity, reusability and stability (confirmed by XRD) were found to be reasonable. Use of meagre amount of Pd and the ligand-free aerobic condition make this system economically as well as environmentally feasible.