Green preparation of Pd nanoparticles on SBA-15 via supercritical fluid deposition and application on Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reaction

A well-dispersed green Pd/SBA-15 catalyst with an average size of 13.7 nm and 492.6 m²/g BET surface area is prepared via supercritical fluid deposition method with a new bipyridyl precursor that enables reduction at mild conditions at 80 °C and 17.2 MPa. The catalytic performance of Pd/SBA-15 prepared using scCO₂ with hydrogen reduction was assessed for Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction of bromobenzene and phenylboronic acid that was chosen as a model coupling reaction. The catalyst was tested in six different solutions and in three organic and inorganic bases during reactions. In general, the effect of bases is investigated when solvents are held constant and K₂CO₃ appears to have the best results in the activity studies used. For each of the 3 bases used, the highest catalytic activity was reached as the result of the solvent system being ethanol/water (1:1). The highest catalytic conversion was obtained in the ethanol-K₂CO₃ solvent-base pair. The catalyst synthesized in this study exhibited high activities and TON value was found as 160.8 at room temperature.