Cationic cellulose nanofibrils as a green support of palladium nanoparticles: catalyst evaluation in Suzuki reactions

© 2018, Springer Nature B.V. Abstract: Cationic cellulose nanofibrils (C-CNF) were used as a support for the growth and the immobilization of Pd NPs using PdCl2 as precursor. The ensuing Pd@C-CNF nanocomposite was tested as a catalyst for the Suzuki coupling reactions between aryl halides and arylboronic acid. Several characterization methods including TEM, HR-TEM, XRD, FT-IR, TGA and XPS were used to confirm the immobilization of Pd NPs onto the C-CNF surface and probe the surface composition after interaction with PdCl2. A quasi total coupling of phenyl boronic acid and 4-bromoacetophenone in DMF at 110 °C was found to occur after 4 h when only 0.02% of Pd@C-CNF of catalyst was used. Furthermore, the Pd@C-CNF could be easily recovered and reused for three consecutive Suzuki reaction cycles without significant loss of its catalytic activity and the loaded percent of palladium nanoparticles was maintained. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].