Palladium-coated nickel nanoclusters: new Hiyama cross-coupling catalysts

Durán Pachón, L., Thathagar, M.B., Hartl, F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7013-5360 and Rothenberg, G. (2006) Palladium-coated nickel nanoclusters: new Hiyama cross-coupling catalysts. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 8 (1). pp. 151-157. ISSN 1463-9076 doi: 10.1039/B513587G

Abstract/Summary

The advantages of bimetallic nanoparticles as C - C coupling catalysts are discussed, and a simple, bottom- up synthesis method of core - shell Ni - Pd clusters is presented. This method combines electrochemical and 'wet chemical' techniques, and enables the preparation of highly monodispersed structured bimetallic nanoclusters. The double- anode electrochemical cell is described in detail. The core - shell Ni - Pd clusters were then applied as catalysts in the Hiyama cross- coupling reaction between phenyltrimethoxysilane and various haloaryls. Good product yields were obtained with a variety of iodo- and bromoaryls. We found that, for a fixed amount of Pd atoms, the core - shell clusters outperform both the monometallic Pd clusters and the alloy bimetallic Ni - Pd ones. THF is an excellent solvent for this process, with less than 2% homocoupling by-product. The roles of the stabiliser and the solvent are discussed.